Quakebuttock
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A coward. humorous, obsolete, rare
"See what theſe times are grown to, before twenty / I ruſh'd into the world, which is indeed / Much like the Art of ſwiming, he that will attain to't / Muſt fall plump, and duck himſelf at firſt, / And that will make him hardy and advent'rous, / And not ſtand putting in one foot, and ſhiver, / And then draw t'other after, like a quake-buttock; [...]"
Example
More examples"See what theſe times are grown to, before twenty / I ruſh'd into the world, which is indeed / Much like the Art of ſwiming, he that will attain to't / Muſt fall plump, and duck himſelf at firſt, / And that will make him hardy and advent'rous, / And not ſtand putting in one foot, and ſhiver, / And then draw t'other after, like a quake-buttock; [...]"
Etymology
From quake + buttock. The word was rare before the 20th century but appears to have experienced a revival.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.