dastard

UK/ˈdɑːstəd//ˈdæstɚd/

dastard noun: a malicious coward; a dishonorable sneak.

Noun

dastard (plural dastards)

A malicious coward; a dishonorable sneak.
- I thought ye would never have given out these arms till you had recovered your ancient freedom: but you are all recreants and dastards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- The dastard, that did heare him selfe defyde, / Seem'd not to weigh his threatfull words at all, / But laught them out, as if his greater pryde, / Did scorne the challenge of so base a thrall: Or had not courage, or else had no gall.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 36

Adjective

dastard (comparative more dastard, superlative most dastard)

Meanly shrinking from danger, cowardly, dastardly.
- Like dastard Curres, that having at a bay
  The salvage beast embost in wearie chace,
  Dare not adventure on the stubborne pray,
  Ne byte before, but rome from place to place,
  To get a snatch, when turned is his face.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Canto One, Stanza 22, in The Faerie Queene, Books Three and Four, edited by Dorothy Stephens, Hackett, 2006, p. 13
- Now dragg'd once more beyond the western main,
  To groan beneath some dastard planter’s chain;
  Where my poor countrymen in bondage wait
  The long enfranchisement of ling’ring fate:1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 5, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Verb

dastard (third-person singular simple present dastards, present participle dastarding, simple past and past participle dastarded)

To dastardize.
- Would my short life had yet a shorter date! / I'm weary of this flesh which holds us here, / And dastards manly souls with hope and fear; / These heats and colds still in our breast make war, / Agues and fevers all our passions are.1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen, Act II, Scene 1, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12166/pg12166-images.html
Synonyms:

poltroon, craven

dastard meaning in Urdu and Kannada

Synonyms of dastard

Forms of dastard

Noun
plural	dastards
Adjective
comparative	more dastard
superlative	most dastard
Verb
third-person singular present	dastards
present participle	dastarding
past participle	dastarded
past	dastarded

Origin of dastard

From Middle English dastard (“a dullard”), most likely formed from *dast, a base derived from Old Norse dæstr (“exhausted, breathless”) + -ard. Compare Icelandic dasaður (“exhausted”), dialectal Swedish däst (“weary”), Middle Dutch dasaert, daasaardt (“a fool”), English dazed (“stupefied”).

Words formed from dastard

Questions about dastard

What does dastard mean?: Dastard means a malicious coward; a dishonorable sneak.
What is dastard in Urdu?: Dastard in Urdu is بزدلانہ, پست, بزدل. See Dastard meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is dastard?: Dastard can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce dastard?: Dastard is pronounced /ˈdɑːstəd/ (UK).
What is the plural of dastard?: The plural of dastard is dastards.

Words near dastard in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: dastard (page history and authors); dastard (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dastard (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-dastard.oga.

Cite this entry: “dastard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dastard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.