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caitiff |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Caitiff \Cai"tiff\, a. [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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Caitiff \Cai"tiff\, n. 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 1.6 [wn]: caitiff adj : despicably mean and cowardly n : (archaic) a cowardly and despicable person
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