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show the white feather

show the white feath·er
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [shoh stressed th ee hwahyt, wahyt feth -er]
    • /ʃoʊ stressed ði ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈfɛð ər/
    • /ʃəʊ ðə waɪt ˈfeðə(r)/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [shoh stressed th ee hwahyt, wahyt feth -er]
    • /ʃoʊ stressed ði ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈfɛð ər/

Definitions of show the white feather words

  • noun show the white feather a symbol of cowardice. 1
  • idioms show the white feather show the white feather, to behave in a cowardly manner. 1
  • noun show the white feather to act in a cowardly manner 0
See all 3 definitions of show the white feather

Information block about the term

Origin of show the white feather

First appearance:

before 1775
One of the 45% newest English words
First recorded in 1775-85; orig. from a white feather in a gamecock's tail, taken as a sign of inferior breeding and hence of poor fighting qualities

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Show the white feather

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Show the white feather

show the white feather popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 5% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

show the white feather usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

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