/ · 1894 Brewer’s · L · Livered
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As, white-livered, lily-livered. Cowardly. In the auspices taken by the Greeks and Romans before battle, if the liver of the animals sacrificed was healthy and blood-red, the omen was favourable; but if pale it augured defeat.
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“Thou lily-livered boy.”
Shakespeare: Macbeth v. 3.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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