Sentence:  His colleagues <WSD>quailed</WSD> when, in 1986, he first sat on the court as a brash 50-year-old whose experience had been mostly as a combative government lawyer: a justice who, in that sanctum of columns and deep judicial silence, was suddenly firing questions like grapeshot. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To lose heart or courage; to be daunted or fearful. (from 16th c.)