slink, turn tail; run away &c. (avoid) 623; show, the white feather. 
     Adj. coward, cowardly; fearful, shy; timid, timorous; skittish; poor-
spirited, spiritless, soft, effeminate.
     weak-minded; infirm of purpose &c. 605; weak-hearted, fainthearted,
chickenhearted, henhearted[obs3], lilyhearted, pigeon-hearted; white-livered[obs3], lily-livered, milk-livered[obs3]; milksop, smock-faced; unable to say “bo” to a goose.
     dastard, dastardly; base, craven, sneaking, dunghill, recreant;
unwarlike, unsoldier-like.
     “in face a lion but in heart a deer”.
     unmanned; frightened &c. 860. 
     Int. sauve qui peut[Fr]! [French:  every man for himself]; devil take
the hindmost! 
     Phr. ante tubam trepidat[Lat], one’s courage oozing out; degeneres
animos timor arguit [Lat][Vergil].

     #863.  Rashness. —­ N. rashness &c. adj.; temerity, want of caution,
imprudence, indiscretion; overconfidence, presumption, audacity.
     precipitancy, precipitation; impetuosity; levity;
foolhardihood[obs3], foolhardiness; heedlessness, thoughtlessness &c. (inattention) 458; carelessness &c. (neglect) 460; desperation; Quixotism, knight-errantry; fire eating.
     gaming, gambling; blind bargain, leap in the dark, leap of faith,
fool’s paradise; too many eggs in one basket.
     desperado, rashling[obs3], madcap, daredevil, Hotspur, fire eater,
bully, bravo, Hector, scapegrace, enfant perdu[Fr]; Don Quixote, knight-errant, Icarus; adventurer; gambler, gamester; dynamitard[obs3]; boomer [obs3][U.  S.]. 
     V. be rash &c. adj.; stick at nothing, play a desperate game; run into
danger &c. 665; play with fire, play with edge tools.
     carry too much sail, sail too near the wind, ride at single anchor, go
out of one’s depth.
     take a leap in the dark, buy a pig in a poke.
     donner tete baissee [Fr]; knock, one’s bead against a wall &c. (be
unskillful) 699; rush on destruction; kick against the pricks, tempt Providence, go on a forlorn hope, go on a fool’s errand.
     reckon one’s chickens before they are hatched, count one’s chickens
before they are hatched, reckon without one’s host; catch at straws; trust to a broken reed, lean on a broken reed. 
     Adj. rash, incautious, indiscreet; imprudent, improvident,
temerarious; uncalculating[obs3]; heedless; careless &c. (neglectful) 460; without ballast, heels over head, head over heels; giddy &c. (inattentive) 458; wanton, reckless, wild, madcap; desperate, devil-may-care.
     hot-blooded, hotheaded, hotbrained[obs3]; headlong, headstrong;
breakneck; foolhardy; harebrained; precipitate, impulsive. overconfident, overweening; venturesome, venturous; adventurous, Quixotic, fire eating, cavalier; janty[obs3], jaunty, free and easy.
     off one’s guard &c. (inexpectant) 508[obs3]. 
     Adv. post haste, a corps perdu[Fr], hand over head, tete baissee[Fr],
headforemost[obs3]; happen what may, come what may. 
     Phr. neck or nothing, the devil being in one; non semper temeritas est
felix [Lat][Livy]; paucis temeritas est bono multis malo [Lat][Phaedrus].