Dastard
Dastard (das"tẽrd) , noun
[Probably from Icelandic dastr exhausted. breathless, past participle of dasa to groan, lose one's breath; compare dasask to become exhausted, and English daze.]
One who meanly shrinks from danger; an arrant coward; a poltroon.
You are all recreants and dashtards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility.
Dastard , adjective
Meanly shrinking from danger; cowardly; dastardly.
Their dastard souls.
Dastard , transitive verb
To dastardize. [Rare] — Dryden