caitiff

1. a. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. Source: opted

2. a. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. Source: opted

3. n. A captive; a prisoner. Source: opted

4. n. A wretched or unfortunate man. Source: opted

5. n. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet. Source: opted

6. adj. despicably mean and cowardly Source: wordnet

7. n. a cowardly and despicable person Source: wordnet

8. 1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.] Chaucer. 2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving. 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. Source: webster

9. A captive; a prisoner. [Obs.]Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave. Holland. Source: adambom

10. n. a cowardly and despicable person s. despicably mean and cowardly Source: ecdict

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