The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. A base coward: "Every moment of the fashion industry's misery is richly deserved by the designers . . . and magazine poltroons who perpetuate this absurd creation” ( Nina Totenberg).
n. An ignoble or total coward; a dastard; a mean-spirited wretch.
adj. Cowardly.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. An arrant coward; a dastard; a craven; a mean-spirited wretch.
adj. Base; vile; contemptible; cowardly.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. A lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard; a fellow without spirit or courage; a dastard; a coward.
n.Synonyms Craven, Dastard, etc. See coward.
Base; cowardly; contemptible.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adj. characterized by complete cowardliness
n. an abject coward
Word Usage
"Tyrrell is best known now as an insane Clinton-basher, but he became sort of famous in the '70s by fancying himself the reincarnation of H.L. Mencken, writing a lot of Carter-bashing columns where he called everyone a "poltroon" or "the honorable" something."