bastard definition | Dictionary.com

bas⋅tard

[bas-terd]

–noun

1.	a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.

Slang.

a.	a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person: Some bastard slashed the tires on my car.

b.	a person, esp. a man: The poor bastard broke his leg.

3.	something irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual.

4.	bastard culverin.

–adjective

5.	illegitimate in birth.

6.	spurious; not genuine; false: The architecture was bastard Gothic.

7.	of abnormal or irregular shape or size; of unusual make or proportions: bastard quartz; bastard mahogany.

8.	having the appearance of; resembling in some degree: a bastard Michelangelo; bastard emeralds.

9.	Printing. (of a character) not of the font in which it is used or found.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME < AF bastard, ML bastardus (from 11th century), perh. < Gmc (Ingvaeonic) *bāst-, presumed var. of *bōst- marriage + OF -ard -ard, taken as signifying the offspring of a polygynous marriage to a woman of lower status, a pagan tradition not sanctioned by the church; cf. OFris bost marriage < Gmc *bandstu-, a n. deriv. of IE *bhendh- bind; the traditional explanation of OF bastard as deriv. of fils de bast “child of a packsaddle” is doubtful on chronological and geographical grounds

Synonyms:
6. fake, imitation, imperfect, sham, irregular, phony.

bastard culverin

–noun Military.

a 16th-century cannon, smaller than a culverin, firing a shot of between 5 and 8 lb. (11 and 17.6 kg).

Also called bastard.

Origin:
1540–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To bastard

bas·tard (bās'tərd)

A child born out of wedlock.
Something that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin.
Slang A person, especially one who is held to be mean or disagreeable.

adj.

Born of unwed parents; illegitimate.
Not genuine; spurious: a bastard style of architecture.
Resembling a known kind or species but not truly such.

[Middle English, from Old French, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old Frisian bōst, marriage.]
bas'tard·ly adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bastard

Bas"tard\, n. [OF. bastard, bastart, F. b?tard, prob. fr. OF. bast, F. b?t, a packsaddle used as a bed by the muleteers (fr. LL. bastum) + -ard. OF. fils de bast son of the packsaddle; as the muleteers were accustomed to use their saddles for beds in the inns. See Cervantes, "Don Quixote," chap. 16; and cf.G. bankert, fr. bank bench.]

1. A "natural" child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit union.

Note: By the civil and canon laws, and by the laws of many of the United States, a bastard becomes a legitimate child by the intermarriage of the parents at any subsequent time. But by those of England, and of some states of the United States, a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage. --Kent. Blackstone.

2. (Sugar Refining) (a) An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from the sirups that ? already had several boilings. (b) A large size of mold, in which sugar is drained.

3. A sweet Spanish wine like muscadel in flavor.

Brown bastard is your only drink. --Shak.

4. A writing paper of a particular size. See Paper.

Bastard

Bas"tard\, a. 1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate. See Bastard, n., note.

2. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; -- applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not so.

That bastard self-love which is so vicious in itself, and productive of so many vices. --Barrow.

3. Of an unusual make or proportion; as, a bastard musket; a bastard culverin. [Obs.]

4. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.

Bastard ashlar (Arch.), stones for ashlar work, roughly squared at the quarry.

Bastard file, a file intermediate between the coarsest and the second cut.

Bastard type (Print.), type having the face of a larger or a smaller size than the body; e.g., a nonpareil face on a brevier body.

Bastard wing (Zo["o]l.), three to five quill feathers on a small joint corresponding to the thumb in some mam malia; the alula.

Bastard

Bas"tard\, v. t. To bastardize. [Obs.] --Bacon.

Language Translation for : bastard

Spanish: bastardo,

German: das uneheliche Kind,

Japanese: 私生児

More Translations »

bastard

1223, "illegitimate child," from O.Fr., "child of a nobleman by a woman other than his wife," probably from fils de bast "packsaddle son," meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (saddles often doubled as beds while traveling), with pejorative ending -art. Alternate possibly is that the word is from P.Gmc. *banstiz "barn," equally suggestive of low origin. Not always regarded as a stigma; the Conqueror is referred to in state documents as "William the Bastard." Figurative sense is from 1552; use as a vulgar term of abuse for a man is attested from 1830. Bastardize "debase" is from 1587.

Main Entry: bas·tard
Pronunciation: 'bas-t&rd
Function: noun
: an illegitimate child
NOTE: The word bastard is no longer used in legal contexts. —bas·tardy /'bas-t&r-dE/ noun

Bastard

In the Old Testament the rendering of the Hebrew word _mamzer'_, which means "polluted." In Deut. 23:2, it occurs in the ordinary sense of illegitimate offspring. In Zech. 9:6, the word is used in the sense of foreigner. From the history of Jephthah we learn that there were bastard offspring among the Jews (Judg. 11:1-7). In Heb. 12:8, the word (Gr. nothoi) is used in its ordinary sense, and denotes those who do not share the privileges of God's children.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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