timorous
adjUS, UK /ˈtɪməɹəs/
Etymology From Late Middle English timorous (“(adjective) fearful, frightened; causing fear, dreadful, terrible; deferential, modest; (noun) timid people collectively”), borrowed from Old French temoros, temorous, from Medieval Latin timōrōsus, from timōr- (the stem of Latin timor (“dread, fear”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’). Timor is derived from timeō (“to be afraid of, fear”) (further origin uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of timoroso.
7 senses
1
Tending to be easily frightened; shy, timid.
- But thou now O temerous ⁊ weake ſely ſhepe, thynke yt ſufficient for thee, onely to walke after me, which am thy ſhepehearde ⁊ gouernor: […]1534 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatice vpon the Passion of Chryste (Vnfinished) […]”, in Marye Basset [i.e., Mary Basset], transl., edited by Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1358, column 1:
- Thys faute of puſillanimitye and tymorous mynde, letteth a man alſo mani tymes from the doynge of manye good thynges, whyche (if he tooke a good ſtomake to hym in the truſt of Gods helpe) he were wel able to do.1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XIII. Of Pusillanimitie.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1182, column 1:
4 more examples
- [T]hey might thank themſelves onely, & their ovvn timerous conceits & imaginations, that ſuch things vvere ſo dread & terrible.1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book II]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 81:
- [I]n the ſtudy of the reign of Theodoſius [I], vve are reduced to illuſtrate the partial narrative of Zoſimus, by the obſcure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative ſtyle of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious aſſiſtance of the eccleſiaſtical vvriters, vvho, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to deſpiſe the profane virtues of ſincerity and moderation. Conſcious of theſe diſadvantages, vvhich vvill continue to involve a conſiderable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I ſhall proceed vvith doubtful and timorous ſteps.1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXVI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, pages 627–628:
- VVee ſleekit, covvrin, tim'rous beaſtie, / Oh, vvhat a panic's in thy breaſtie!1785 November (date written), Robert Burns, “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 202:
- Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely upon vegetables, are inoffenſive and timorous. As Nature furniſhes them vvith a moſt abundant ſupply, they have not that rapacity after food remarkable in ſuch as are often ſtinted in their proviſion.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Animals of the Hare Kind”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 3:
2
Archaic Feeling fear; afraid, fearful, frightened.
- He [the Devil] marketh well […] mennes complexions within thẽ [them], health, or ſicknes, good humours or badde, by which they be light hearted or lumpiſh, ſtrong hearted, or faynt & fieble of ſpirite, bolde and hardy, or timorous and fearefull of courage.1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XVI. Of Hym that were Moued to Kyl Himself by Illusion of the Dyuel, which He Rekened for a Reuelation.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, pages 1195–1196:
- Men call her Athliot: vvho cannot be / More vvretched made by infelicitie, / Vnleſſe ſhe here had an immortall breath / Or liuing thus, liu'd timerous of death.1616, William Browne, “The Fifth Song”, in Britannia’s Pastorals. The Second Booke, London: […] Thomas Snodham for George Norton, […], →OCLC, page 120:
3 more examples
- VVeaker I am, vvoe is mee, and vvorſe then you, / You have not ſinn'd, nor need be timorous, […]a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “Sonnet VIII”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 37:
- Remember, my ſon, that human life is the journey of a day. […] VVe approach them [the gardens of pleasure] vvith ſcruple and heſitation; vve enter them, but enter timorous and trembling; and alvvays hope to paſs through them vvithout loſing the road of virtue, vvhich vve for a vvhile keep in our ſight, and to vvhich vve propoſe to return.1750 November 9 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. [65]. Monday, October 30. 1750.”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: … Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 101:
- [H]e had none of his old cronies to "tackle," and was rather timorous on venturing on Joe; […]1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 72.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 357–358:
6
Obsolete Causing dread or fear; dreadful, terrible.
- Well, having past halfe way downewards, wee came to the most scurrile and timorous Discent of the whole passage, where with much difficuty, I set safe the foure Germanes in our narrow Rode hewen out of the craggy Hill; […]1632, William Lithgow, “The Sixth Part”, in The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Affrica, Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, publishers to the University [of Glasgow], published 1906, →OCLC, pages 233–234:
7
Obsolete Humble, modest; also, showing reverence; respectful, reverent, reverential.
- Derived terms
- overtimorous, timorously, timorousness, timorous schizotypal
- Related terms
- timorsome