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bastards - 3 dictionary results

bas⋅tard

  [bas-terd]
Use bastards in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
2. 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.
Cite This Source Link To bastards
bas·tard   (bās'tərd)   
n.  
  1. A child born out of wedlock.
  2. Something that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin.
  3. Slang A person, especially one who is held to be mean or disagreeable.
adj.  
  1. Born of unwed parents; illegitimate.
  2. Not genuine; spurious: a bastard style of architecture.
  3. 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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