When was the White Feather first used as a symbol of cowardice?
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I've found several articles state that the OED dates the first usage of the term "white feather" as a symbol for cowardice to 1795. A representative example is White Feathers : Stories of Courage, Recruitment and Gender at the start of the Great War.
However, The Online Etymology Dictionary says the following:
white feather (n.) as a symbol of cowardice, 1785, said to be from the time when c**k-fighting was respectable, and when the strain of game-c**k in vogue had no white feathers, so that "having a white feather, is proof he is not of the true game breed" [Grose].
As far as I can make out, this appears to be a reference to A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose.
I couldn't locate a 1785 edition online, but the reference is certainly in the 1788 edition:
So it seems the OED may be mistaken!
Upvote:1
See The Eustace Diamonds 1872 Trollope - Lord Fawn doesn't deserve the white feather for social cowardice ref: chapters 16-18
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