What is a mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward. [Slang, Eng.] It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail. Thackeray called?

cocktail — A mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward. [Slang, Eng.] It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail. Thackeray. (Webster's 1913.)

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