poltron

plural poltrons

1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of poltroon.

   Be not a Hercules furens abroad, and a poltron within thyself.

   1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 35

   2 more examples

   She shall find I am not the clay, but the potter. I will mould, not be moulded. Poltron as I was, to think of sinking into the docile, domesticated, timid animal called husband!

   1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, London: Shepperson & Reynolds, Volume 4, Letter 71, p. 127

   We were regarded as a nation of poltrons, without the spirit to resent insult, or the power to resist aggression.

   1823, Edward Dillingham Bangs, An oration pronounced at Springfield, Mass., on the Fourth of July, 1823