Old and cowardly, with an absence of bounce (2,6,7)
I believe the answer is:
no spring chicken
'old' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'cowardly with an absence of bounce' is the wordplay.
'cowardly' becomes 'chicken' (chicken can informally mean cowardly).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'an absence of' becomes 'no'.
'bounce' becomes 'spring' (synonyms).
'no'+'spring'='nospring'
'chicken' after 'nospring' is 'NO SPRING CHICKEN'.
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for no spring chicken that I've seen before include "Mature" , "unseasoned meat, might you say?" , "old?" , "One who's seasoned" , "Veteran" .)