noun
- cowards; people who lack courage or are easily frightened
Usage: archaic; literary
Examples
- The captain called his retreating soldiers poltroons.
- Only poltroons would abandon their posts at the first sign of danger.
- He refused to be counted among the poltroons who fled the battlefield.
- The novel’s villain dismissed his enemies as mere poltroons.
- History remembers the brave, not the poltroons who cowered in fear.
- She had no patience for poltroons who wouldn’t stand up for their beliefs.