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Caitiff - 6 dictionary results

cai⋅tiff

   [key-tif]
Archaic.
–noun
1. a base, despicable person.
–adjective
2. base; despicable.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME caitif < AF < L captīvus captive
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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cai·tiff     (kā'tĭf)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   A despicable coward; a wretch.
adj.   Despicable and cowardly.

[Middle English caitif, from Norman French, from Latin captīvus, prisoner; see captive.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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caitiff 
c.1300, from O.N.Fr. caitive "captive, miserable," from L. captivum (see captive). In most Romance languages, it has acquired a pejorative sense.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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caitiff

adjective
1. despicably mean and cowardly 

noun
1. a cowardly and despicable person 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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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.

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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