white-hearted

adjective

Cowardly; lily-livered.

Meanings

adjectivewhite-hearted (comparative more white-hearted, superlative most white-hearted)

comparative more white-hearted · superlative most white-hearted · alternative whitehearted

  1. Cowardly; lily-livered.

    […] and call the defendant a white-hearted son-of-a-bitch?

    1898, Texas. Court of Criminal Appeals, The Texas Criminal Reports, page 67
  2. Pure in heart; morally good and innocent.
    1 more example

    The old deacon had just driven the old mare out on the road to go three miles to church when his wife, who was equally as whitehearted woman as he was a man, said, 'Oh dear, what have we done? […] Here we are going to church this blessed Sunday morning morning and there is that poor little calf that has not been fed. […]'

    1894, Annual Report, Maine: Board of Agriculture, page 172
Cite this entry
APA

white-hearted. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white-hearted

MLA

“white-hearted.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white-hearted. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “white-hearted,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white-hearted.

Source: white-hearted on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.