Poltroon (pahl-TROON) A spiritless coward : craven. Poltroon has
been used for wimps and cravens since the early 16th century at least. English
picked up poltroon from Middle French, which in turn got it from Old Italian
poltrone, meaning "coward." The Italian term has been traced to the
Latin pullus, a root that is also an ancestor of pullet ("a young
hen") and poultry.
