dastard
/ˈdɑːstəd/
Etymology
From Middle English dastard (“a dullard”), most likely formed from *dast, a base derived from Old Norse dæstr (“exhausted, breathless”) + -ard. Compare Icelandic dasaður (“exhausted”), dialectal Swedish däst (“weary”), Middle Dutch dasaert, daasaardt (“a fool”), English dazed (“stupefied”).
dastard means meanly shrinking from danger, cowardly, dastardly. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
dastard is pronounced /ˈdɑːstəd/.
Why “dastard” is a great word
DASTARD — [Noun/Adjective] A malicious coward who acts dishonorably in a sneaking, despicable manner. From Middle English *dastard*, likely formed from a base *dast- (from Old Norse *dæstr*, "exhausted, breathless") + the pejorative suffix *-ard*; first attested around 1440. Unlike a poltroon, which suggests idle laziness, or a mere coward, who simply lacks courage, a dastard is defined by treacherous malice. He is the hand that loosens the saddle-girth before the ride, the poisoner of a rival's cup, the whisperer of lethal lies from the shadows—a portrait of villainy rendered in the pale pigments of fear, for whom cowardice is the essential tool of his treachery.
adj
- Meanly shrinking from danger, cowardly, dastardly.“1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Canto One, Stanza 22, in The Faerie Queene, Books Three and Four, edited by Dorothy Stephens, Hackett, 2006, p. 13,
Like dastard Curres, that having at a bay
The salvage beast embost in wearie chace,
Dare not adventure on the stubborne pray,
Ne byte before, but rome from place to place,
To get a snatch, when turned is his face.”
noun
- A malicious coward; a dishonorable sneak.“I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom: but you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility.”
verb
- To dastardize.“1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen, Act II, Scene 1, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12166/pg12166-images.html
Would my short life had yet a shorter date! / I'm weary of this flesh which holds us here, / And dastards manly souls with hope and fear; / These heats and colds still in our breast make war, / Agues”