craven

• adj. 畏缩的；怯懦的
• n. 懦夫
• n. (Craven)人名；(意)克拉文；(英)克雷文

词源不详。可能来自词根crep, 破碎，劈里叭啦，词源同decrepit, discrepancy. 原指被打败的，后指被打怕的，因而胆小的。

craven

craven: [13] Craven originally meant simply ‘defeated’, and only gradually came to have the pejorative sense ‘cowardly’. It probably came from Old French cravante ‘defeated’, the past participle of the verb cravanter, which in turn came via Vulgar Latin *crepantāre from Latin crepāre; this meant ‘creak, rattle, crack’ (hence the English technical term crepitation [17]) but also secondarily ‘burst’ or ‘break’.
=> crepitation, crevice, decrepit

craven (adj.)

early 13c., cravant, perhaps from Old French crevante "defeated," past participle of cravanter "to strike down, to fall down," from Latin crepare "to crack, creak." Sense affected by crave and moved from "defeated" to "cowardly" (c. 1400) perhaps via intermediary sense of "confess oneself defeated." Related: Cravenly; cravenness.

1. A neighbour saw her talking with Craven.

一个邻居看见她在和克雷文交谈。

来自柯林斯例句

2. I had no doubt that the craven fellow would be only too pleased to back out.

我毫不怀疑那个胆小的家伙巴不得撒手退出呢.

来自《简明英汉词典》

3. They condemned the deal as a craven surrender.

他们谴责这笔交易为毫无志气的投降行为。

来自辞典例句

4. Jonathan Craven was the second person hired at Chesapeake Capital.

乔纳森?卡文是切萨皮克资金第二个聘用的员工.

来自互联网

5. No man wants to be thought a craven person.

没有人愿意被认为是懦弱的人.

来自互联网