When in liquor he would make foolish wagers. On one of these too frequent occasions he was boasting of his prowess as a pedestrian and athlete, and the outcome was a match against nature. For a stake of one sovereign he undertook to run all the way to Coventry and back, a distance of something more than forty miles.

There is such a sense of inferiority sometimes when it comes to facing Germany, with all their World Cups, their penalty prowess and easy sophistication, it might come as a surprise to learn that, in head-to-head encounters, England actually match their opponents.

[…] But, wroth because this man in full assembly, / Came and reviled thee, thou wouldst shew thy prowess, / The prowess that attends thee, that henceforth / Not e'er a man might think to scorn thy prowess, […]

A beautiful great lady, past her prime, / Behold her dreaming in her easy chair; / Grey robed, and veiled, in laces old and rare, / Her smiling eyes see but the vanished time / Of splendid prowess, and of deeds sublime.

I recollect hearing […] of his [Sir William Hamilton's] simple, independent, meditative habits, ruggedly athletic modes of exercise, fondness for his big dog, etc. etc.: […] I did not witness, much less share in, any of the swimming or other athletic prowesses.

As the Middle Ages drew to a close and the Renaissance rose like a new sun, knowledge of philosophy and the sciences became objects of interest to a nobility that had once held only skill in battle as a prowess worth attaining.

Prowess

Meaning

Noun

Origin

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