Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Craven |
CravenAdjective1. Lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful; "the craven fellow turned and ran"; "a craven proposal to raise the white flag"; "this recreant knight"- Spenser. Noun1. An abject coward. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "craven" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Craven means "your mercy is craved." It was usual in former times to decide controversies by an appeal to battle. The combatants fought with bâtons, and if the accused could either kill his adversary or maintain the fight till sundown, he was acquitted. If he wished to call off, he cried out "Craven!" and was held infamous, while the defendant was advanced to honour. (Blackstone.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The district came into being with the 1974 changes to British local government, although the precise area has varied over the centuries. Occasionally Craven has included the local towns of Keighley and Barnoldswick.
The word Craven is Celtic in origin and is related to the Welsh word 'Craf', or garlic. In the middle ages, the area was known for it's wild garlic.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Craven."
Synonyms: CravenSynonyms: poltroon (n), recreant (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cowardice | Dastard, dastardly; base, craven, sneaking, dunghill, recreant; unwarlike, unsoldier-like. |
Submission | Eat dirt, eat the leek, eat humble pie; bite the dust, lick the dust; be at one's feet, fall at one's feet; craven; crouch before, throw oneself at the feet of; swallow the leek, swallow the pill; kiss the rod; turn the other cheek; avaler les couleuvres, gulp down. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Craven |
| English words defined with "craven": Cravened, Cravening ♦ gutless ♦ leisure, leisured ♦ recreant ♦ spineless. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I may be a craven little coward, but I'm a greedy craven little coward. (Ducking the Devil; writing credit: Tedd Pierce) That's the problem with plutonium, Craven; it's limited in its application. (Edge of Darkness; writing credit: Troy Kennedy-Martin) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Craven Sluck (1967) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Point Craven. Point Thatcher. In: Pacific Coast Pilot Alaska Part I 1883. P. 166. Library call number VK943 .N3 1883. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Photographed circa 1895-1896. Those present are (as identified by the donor), front row, left to right: Philip B. Cooper, Ensign William V. Pratt, and Ensign George R. Marvell; middle row, left to right: Professer Paul J. Dashiell, Ensign Ashley H. Robertson, and Passed Assistant Surgeon Charles F. Stokes; top row, left to right: Walter B. Izard; Passed Assistant Surgeon Stephen S. White, Ensign Frederick B. Bassett Jr., Lieutenant John E. Craven, and Passed Assistant Engineer Frank W. Bartlett. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Warships in the Reserve Basin, 18 November 1919, as seen by a Philadelphia Evening Ledger photographer. Ships are (from left to right): USS Wisconsin (Battleship # 9); USS Illinois (Battleship # 7); USS Alabama (Battleship # 8); a Pittsburgh class armored cruiser; two battleships, probably Connecticut class; USS Stringham (Destroyer # 83); USS Craven (Destroyer # 70); USS Maury (Destroyer # 100); and USS Sigourney (Destroyer # 81). Credit: NAVY. |  | Ship's boilers under construction in the Erecting Shop at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 15 May 1917. Note flags on display. Craven was not laid down until 20 December 1917. Credit: NAVY. |
 | The Craven House and Point Lookout, Lookout Mountain. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Craven" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 84.17% of the time. "Craven" is used about 278 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 84.17% | 234 | 19,621 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 14.39% | 40 | 54,274 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.44% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 278 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "craven" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Craven | Last name | 6,000 | 2,278 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expression using "craven": Craven County. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "craven": craven-hearted, Craven-walker. | |
Ending with "craven": Carleton-in-craven, mid-craven. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "craven"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | Lalash (chicken hearted, cowardly, quitter, recreant, softy), Frikacak (chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, dastard, dastardly, faint-heart, faint-hearted, funk, milk-livered, poltroon, pusillanimous, recreant, scary, sneak, sneaking, white livered, yellow, yellowbellied, yellow-livered). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | شخص جبان (chicken). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | Мерзък, Страхлив. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | Zbabìlý (chicken hearted, cowardly, faint-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, spineless, white livered, yellow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | Lâche. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Feige (afraid, coward, cowardly, cravenly, fainthearted, fig, funky, gutless, lily livered, pusillanimous, spineless, spinelessly, unmanly, yellow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | άνανδροσ (coward, cowardly, dastard, poltroon, recreant, unmanly), "ειλόσ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | gyáva (as timid as a rabbit, caitiff, chicken hearted, coward, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, milquetoastish, recreant, timid, timorous, weak-spirited, yellow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | Codardo (coward, cowardly, dastard, funk, lily livered, recreant, weakling). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | gyn spyrryd (boneless, feckless), cowartagh (cowardly, white-livered, yellow). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | avencray covarde (caitiff, chicken-hearted, coward, cowardly, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, funky, lily-livered, milk-livered, milksop, pusillanimous, recreant, scaramouch, slag, sneaking, white-livered, yellow-livered). (various references) Laş (base-spirited, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, cur, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, hen-hearted, invertebrate, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, pigeon-hearted, poltroon, recreant, sneak, sneaky, unmanly, white livered, yellow), Fricos (apprehensive, caitiff, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, cur, dastard, eerie, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, funky, hare-hearted, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, Patsi, pigeon-hearted, piker, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, shy, spiritless, timid, timorous, white livered, yellow). (various references) Малодушный, Трусливый. (various references) fùidsidh. (various references) plašljiv (afraid, fearful, fearsome, henhearted, hen-hearted, lily livered, mousey, mousy, scary, shy, timid, tremulous), kukavički (caitiff, cowardly, dastardly, recreant, yellow, yellow-bellied). (various references) Cobarde (chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, dastardly, faint-hearted, lily livered, pigeonhearted, piker, poltroon, quitter, recreant, timid, weak-kneed, weakling, yellow). (various references) Feg (chicken, chickenhearted, coward, cowardly, dastardly, faint-hearted, lily livered, recreant, timid, white livered, yellow). (various references) Korkak (caitiff, chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cissy, coward, cowardly, dastardly, dingo, faint, faintheart, fainthearted, fearful, funk, funky, gutless, hen-hearted, lily livered, milksop, milquetoast, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, rabbit, recreant, scary, sissy, skulking, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, spiritless, timid, unmanly, weak-spirited, white livered, yellow, yellow dog). (various references) Полохливий, Малодушний, Залякувати (Hector), Легкодуха Людина, Легкодухий, Боягузливий, Боягуз, Боязкий. (various references) kẻ hèn nhát (cur), hèn nhát chịu thua, đầu h ng sợ mất hết can đảm. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | crepare. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "craven": cravened, cravening, cravenly, cravenness, cravennesses, cravens. (additional references) | |
| |
"Craven" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aravena, caraven, carvan, Carwen, cavan, caven, cavent, crapen, craten, Cravan, cravant, cravel, cravent, cravet, crazen, crive, criven, Karven, krave, Scryveyn. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "craven" (pronounced krā"vun) |
| 5 | -r ā" v u n | graven, Raven. |
| 4 | -ā" v u n | haven, maven, shaven, unshaven. |
| 3 | -v u n | breakeven, coven, Devon, disproven, driven, eleven, enliven, even, forgiven, given, handwoven, heaven, interwoven, Kelvin, leaven, liven, nonwoven, oven, proven, Riven, seven, striven, sylvan, uneven, unforgiven, unproven, woven. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: carven, cavern. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-n-r-v" | |
-1 letter: caner, carve, caver, crane, crave, nacre, rance, raven. | |
-2 letters: acne, acre, aver, cane, care, carn, cave, earn, narc, nave, near, race, rave, vane, vena, vera. | |
-3 letters: ace, ane, arc, are, ave, can, car, ear, era, ern, nae, ran, rec, rev, vac, van, var. | |
-4 letters: ae, an, ar, en, er, na, ne, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-n-r-v" | |
+1 letter: caverns, cravens. | |
+2 letters: advancer, canvaser, caverned, conferva, cravened, cravenly, czarevna, navicert, novercal, revanche, variance, verdancy, vernacle, veronica, vibrance, vicenary. | |
+3 letters: advancers, canvasers, canvasser, caravaned, caravaner, carnivore, caverning, cavernous, clavering, confervae, confervas, cravening, czarevnas, grievance, incurvate, navicerts, overclean, relevance, relevancy, revanches, scavenger, severance, variances, vernacles, veronicas, vibrances. | |
+4 letters: advertence, advertency, cadaverine, cantilever, canvassers, caravaners, caravanned, caravanner, caregiving, carnivores, cavalrymen, changeover, contravene, conversant, covariance, covenanter, covenantor, cravenness, crevassing, governance, grievances, incurvated, incurvates, invariance, inveteracy, observance, overacting, overaction, overcleans, prevalence, provenance, purveyance, relevances, revanchism, revanchist, revocation, scavengers, serviceman, severances, survivance, uncreative, vacationer, vagrancies, verdancies, vernacular, vibrancies, vicariance, vociferant, vulcanizer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
