scaredy-cat

scaredy-cat

A person who is easily frightened or needlessly afraid. Greg called Joanne a scaredy-cat because she didn't want to go exploring in the woods after dark.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • fraidy cat
  • frighten
  • have a yellow streak down (one's) back
  • have a yellow streak down one’s back
  • be not for the faint-hearted
  • a yellow streak
  • be frightened to death
  • scared to death
  • I wasn't brought up in the woods to be scared by owls
  • scared silly/stiff/to death, to be
References in periodicals archive
I am no scaredy-cat. I will fight until justice is prevailed, Khan said vowing to win the by-polls.
Prospered: Julie Mission accomplished for scaredy-cat Cameron who always knew the mass-debate format would spare him any blushes.
This wasn't the first time scaredy-cat Najwa had her seat abandoned for a backbench view.
12&13 Peek in your pad Journalist and broadcaster Edi Stark has an eye for art and has given it pride of place in her lovely home 17 New homes The Armstrongs went for something completely different when downsizing 19 Pets corner Dog is too scaredy-cat to be trained
Eisenberg's droll scaredy-cat is a wonderful comic foil for Harrelson's goofball avenger, who is so moved at one point he confides: "I haven't cried like that since Titanic." Bill Murray's cameo as himself is a treat.
So Leonardo comes up with a plan: He'll find the most scaredy-cat kid in the world and "scare the tuna salad out of him!"
He did not want to be called a scaredy-cat, he recalls.
The world's fastest land mammal and a deft hunter, the cheetah is also, at heart, a big scaredy-cat. When challenged, it will run, not fight, a trait that inspired a time-proven solution to its conflicts with Namibian farmers: guard dogs for livestock.
"The ghosts of the soul patrol try to take him to the after-life, but they find that he's been kidnapped by the evil Zachariah Kull." The ghost story unfolds from there, but Kat's no scaredy-cat. She says, "The settings are eerie and creepy, but the dialogue is funny--very lighthearted and no blood at all." Definitely more jeer than fear!
It is my observation that there exists in every litter of kittens a spectrum of personality styles running from total scaredy-cat to born friendly or at least bold.
Ralph says that Sam is a scaredy-cat and calls him 'Sam Wuzer,' and laughs that he can rhyme Sam's name with loser.
The plot involves Sam proving that he is NOT a scaredy-cat, despite what Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third (aka the school bully) says.
Spencer becomes strapping archaeologist Dr Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Fridge is scaredy-cat zoologist Franklin Finbar (Kevin Hart), Bethany is quirky cartographer Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black) and Martha is reborn as acrobatic warrior Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan).
Eddie is no scaredy-cat when faced with the massive jumps.
Rating THE VISIT (15) REBECCA (Olivia DeJonge) and her scaredy-cat younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) prepare to spend a week in the country with grandparents they have never met.