Coward, a person who yields in combat; disloyal to a cause; cowardly, abjectly fearful.
Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
That draws a sword on thee.
Mrs. Cassidy took Maggie's face between her hands and lifted it gently. Tear-stained it was, flushing and paling, but its velvety, pink-and-white, becomingly freckled surface was unscratched, unbruised, unmarred by the recreant fist of Mr. Fink
''We're being recreant in turning over to this president the power shift that is included in that bill,'' he said.
Robert Byrd, quoted by John Tierney, The New York Times, 20 November 2002. New York Times
In the latest reports of the Brooklyn pilgrims to Lourdes, it is stated that a member of St. Martin's Protestant Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, has become a convert to the Catholic faith. As the reported recreant member has not yet returned from the pilgrimage the church has not been notified of any defection in its ranks.
Unattributed, The New York Times, 16 September 1894.
New York Times