sb. and a. Obs. exc. dial. Also 6–7 Sc. crau-, crawdoun; 8–9 dial. craddant. [Derivation uncertain: possibly the same word as CRATHON, but app. associated in Sc. with craw to crow and down; several quots. refer to or suggest a cock that will not fight.] A craven, a coward.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. Prol. 119. Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand, And by consent cry cok, thi deid is dycht.
1571. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 158. Neither must you … have him [the cock] a Craddon, for he must sometime stand in the defence of his wife and children.
1606. Birnie, Kirk-Buriall (1833), 23. It wold make our craw-down fedrum fal.
1825–79. Jamieson, Cradden, a dwarf. Lanarks.
Hence † Craddenly a., cowardly.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, Crassantly, as a crassantly lad, a coward. Chesh. In Lancashire they say craddantly.
So 1692–1732. in Coles.
1742–1800. Bailey, A Craddantly Lad, a Coward. Lancash.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Craddenly, cowardly. North.
1847–78. Halliwell, Craddantly.
