pot-valiant

[ pot-val-yuh nt ]

/ ˈpɒtˌvæl yənt /

brave only as a result of being drunk.

Origin of pot-valiant

First recorded in 1635–45

pot-val·iant·ly, adverb pot-val·or

[pot-val-er] /ˈpɒtˌvæl ər/, pot-val·ian·cy

[pot-val-yuh n-see] /ˈpɒtˌvæl yən si/, noun

But in the midst of his brooding, Teppich and the fat Sturgeon assailed the nunnery gate with pot-valiant blows and shouts.

Dragon's blood |Henry Milner Rideout
A hero is bold but temperate: a demagogue blustering and pot-valiant.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849 |Various
His eyes wore an expression of profound misery, but he preserved steadily other portions of a pot-valiant air.

The Monster and Other Stories |Stephen Crane
They gathered behind walls or flickered across the open in shouting masses, and were pot-valiant in artillery.

Soldiers Three, Part II. |Rudyard Kipling

And when next they met, the pot-valiant squireen would chuckle proudly, "Faith, yon was a night."

The House with the Green Shutters |George Douglas Brown