10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SHOW THE WHITE FEATHER»
Discover the use of
show the white feather in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to
show the white feather and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Billy Andrews' Comic Songster: This Book Contains a Choice ...
NEVER SHOW THE WHITE FEATHER. I know in this world there is plenty of strife
, Each morning some trouble discloses ; I know we all find in the garden of life, A
fair share of thorns with the roses. But if we face trouble we surely shall see, ...
2
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
The full expression, to show the white feather, had > S.E. by 1895.—2. In show
the white feather, to maintain 'sufficient pressure of steam in the boilers to keep a
white feather of steam over the safety valves' (Bowen): nautical: earlier C.20.
3
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Giving
the Derivation, ...
To show the white feather. To show cowardice. No gamecock has a white feather.
A white feather indicates a cross-breed in birds. Showing the white feather. Some
years ago a bloody war was raging between the Indians and settlers of the ...
Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, 1895
4
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving
the Derivation, ...
To show the white feather. To show cowardice. No gamecock has a white feather.
A white feather indicates a cross-breed in birds. Showing the white feather. Some
years ago a bloody war was raging between the Indians and settlers of tho ...
Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, 1898
5
Colours of
the King: Red,
White, and Blue
1 In the days of cock-fights the fighting cock never had a white feather : the cock
with a white feather proclaimed itself a non-fighter ; hence the phrase " to show
the white feather " when a coward refuses to give battle to a foe — or a sin.
Ernest Edward Holmes, 1914
... a white feather proclaimed itself a non-fighter ; hence the phrase " to show the
white feather " when a coward refuses to give battle to a foe — or a sin. gaieties
of Thessalonica ; St. Mark showed the white feather 40 The Colours of the King.
"You don't mean to tell me that you would show the white feather, just at the idea
of making some response to a toast in your honor? " " I never made a speech in
my life," the lover answered, shamefacedly; " and I am frightened nearly out of my
...
8
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition
[First half of 1900s] white ➧ In addition to the idioms beginning with white, also
see black and white; bleed someone white; great white hope; show the white
feather. white as a sheet Very pale in the face, as in She was white as a sheet
after ...
9
The Imperial Dictionary of
the English Language: A Complete ...
The symbol of cowardice, a term introduced in days when cock-fighting was in
vogue. As a gamecock has no white feathers, a white feather was a proof that a
bird was not game. Generally used in such phrases as to show the white-feather,
...
John Ogilvie, Charles Annandale, 1883
10
Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: C to Fizzle
TO SHOW THE WHITE FEATHER, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To turn cur ; to prove
oneself a coward. [Among game cocks a cross-bred bird is known by a white
feather in the tail. Of old the breed was strictly preserved in England, for though ...
John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley, 1891
