cowish

English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• cous

Noun

cowish (uncountable)

1. An umbelliferous plant (Lomatium cous) with edible tuberous roots, found in Oregon, USA.

Etymology 2

cow +‎ -ish

Adjective

cowish (comparative more cowish, superlative most cowish)

1. timorous; fearful; cowardly
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     It is the cowish terror of his spirit, / That dares not undertake.

2. Similar to a cow; cowlike

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “cowish”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)