- contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly怯懦的, 胆怯的：
a craven abdication of his moral duty
对道德责任的胆怯抛弃。
- archaic a cowardly person〈古〉胆小鬼, 懦夫。
派生词
cravenly
adverbcravenness
noun词源
Middle English cravant 'defeated', perhaps via Anglo-Norman French from Old French cravante, past participle of cravanter 'crush, overwhelm', based on Latin crepare 'burst'. The change in the ending of the 17th cent. was due to association with past participles ending in -en （see -EN3 ）.