chicken-hearted

chicken-hearted

Cowardly or fearful. I'm not surprised that Tom didn't come to the rally—he's too chicken-hearted to defend his beliefs in public.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

chicken-hearted

cowardly. Yes, I'm a chicken-hearted softie. I never try anything too risky.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

chicken-hearted

mod. cowardly. He’s chicken-hearted, but I still love him.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • lily-livered
  • be yellow
  • yellow-bellied
  • liver
  • yellow
  • yellow-bellied chicken
  • halfhearted
  • half-hearted about (someone or something)
  • have a yellow belly
  • pantywaist
References in periodicals archive
SUNDAY AD 68 Rome's chicken-hearted Emperor Nero committed suicide, aged 32, after the Senate had declared him a public enemy.
The Congress wasn't even attacked by anthrax, unlike the Senate, but its chicken-hearted reaction stoked the fear of wholesale biological warfare.
"Kids and parents alike love this chicken-hearted dog and his band of sleuths," said Len Bertolini, Suncast's sales manger.
"Managers are blaming referees because they are chicken-hearted and they won't categorically blame their players openly" Former FIFA referee Roger Milford hits out at whingeing managers.
This decade feels a bit more chicken-hearted than the last.
It is not only the Congressional Democrats' chicken-hearted response to the savings and loan bailout, their collapse on catastrophic health care, their shameful collaboration on the capital gains tax reduction, their sophistical end run on the flag-burning issue, their fear of substantial defense budget cuts, their complaisant agreement to intervene in Central American politics and their ridiculous jingoism about Panama.
"People of the state are not chicken-hearted. Neither are we some kind of fox.
He can't pass and he's chicken-hearted. The tie with Arsenal's over and done with and Donati's days should be numbered as well."
Chicken-hearted horses, horses with physical defects, horses with personality disorders cannot win the Derby.
AD 68 Rome's chicken-hearted Emperor Nero committed suicide, aged 32,after the Senate had declared him a public enemy.