 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Caitiff \Cai"tiff\, adjective [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. ch['e]tif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave. See {Heave}, and cf. {Captive}.]
1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.
Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. --W. Irving.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Caitiff \Cai"tiff\, noun A captive; a prisoner. [Obs.]
Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave. --Holland.
2. A wretched or unfortunate man. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
3. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet.
Note: The deep-felt conviction of men that slavery breaks down the moral character . . . speaks out with . . . distinctness in the change of meaning which caitiff has undergone signifying as it now does, one of a base, abject disposition, while there was a time when it had nothing of this in it. --Trench.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
caitiff
adjective: despicably mean and cowardly
noun: a cowardly and despicable person
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |