Dictionary

quakebuttock en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkweɪkˌbʌtək/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• [-ˌbəɾək] (General-American)
• /ˈkweɪkˌbʌtək/ (General-American)
• (Received-Pronunciation) audio

Etymology

From quake + buttock. The word was rare before the 20th century but appears to have experienced a revival.

Meanings

1. (humorous, obsolete, rare) A coward.
   • Have pity on we poor wretched sinners / We blatherskites and lopdoodles / Lickspiggots and clinchpoops / Quibberdicks and Quakebuttocks. 2006, Roger McGough, “Prayer to Saint Grobianos, the Patron Saint of Coarse People”, in Selected Poems, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 152:
   • See what theſe times are grown to, before twenty / I ruſh'd into the world, which is indeed / Much like the Art of ſwiming, he that will attain to't / Muſt fall plump, and duck himſelf at firſt, / And that will make him hardy and advent'rous, / And not ſtand putting in one foot, and ſhiver, / And then draw t'other after, like a quake-buttock; [...] c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 2], London: […] J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 358:
   • Not fitting speech, Kor. Quakebuttock, some would have called him. Coward. But I knew he was no coward, and though I wanted to rail at him in anger, heartache would not let me. Not yet. 1987, Nancy Springer, chapter 14, in Mindbond (A TOR Book), New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN; republished as Mindbond (Sea King Trilogy; 2), New York, N.Y.: Open Road Integrated Media, 2014, →ISBN:
   • 'You really do look like you're going to cry,' Em replied (with her mouth). 'Are you sure you're all right?' / 'Yes!' I insisted. 'I'm not a complete quakebuttock, you know!' / Yes! (Quakebuttock is a new word I learned weeks ago and have been meaning to slip into conversation ever since.) 2011, Tom Clempson, “Registration”, in One Seriously Messed-up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Sam Taylor Jack Samsonite, London: Atom, →ISBN:
   • From hurtful facts I fain won't hide / (I'm not that quakebuttock, weak type who'd / Turn face from fear: I never shied / From vulgar verities others shooed), [...] 1993 fall, Mike Wenthe, “‘Song of Prude: You and I’ in the Key of F-flat”, in Deborah Forbes, Josh May, editors, The Archive, volume 106, number 1, Durham, N.C.: Undergraduate Publications, Duke University, →OCLC, page 36:
   • And looking back, it seemed to Jim that he had never prayed for himself at all but for this other boy that his mind's eye watched, a rawney-looking molly of a boy, the son of a quakebuttock, a coward himself, praying that he should hear his calling and join the brothers like Our Lady wished and not to be so inconsiderate. 2001, Jamie O'Neill, chapter 6, in At Swim, Two Boys, London: Scribner, →ISBN, page 147:

Forms

Synonyms

recreant · yellow back · candy-ass · niddering · coward · jessie · chickenshit · piece of crap · coistril · gutless wonder · niding · milquetoast · quakebuttock · pullet · nancy · cocktail · bottler · sook · nidering · quiche-eater · quakebreech · fraidy cat · shithouse · slag · chicken liver · caitiff · sissy · punk · nidget · piece of shit · pisspants · snool · wheyface · invertebrate · candy-arse · sluggard · nithing · funker · lizard · scaredy cat · scaredy pants · chicken · dog · pussy · pussyhole · quakebreech · poltroon · cowardy custard · craven · weak sister · yellow belly