Word of the Day

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

caitiff

\KAY-tif\ , noun, adjective;

cowardly and mean

noun:

a mean, cowardly person

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Quotes:

But there was no need: the towering threat and the flaming eye and the swift rush buffeted the caitiff away: he recoiled three steps, and nearly fell down.

-- Charles Reade, The Atlantic, 6/1/1943

Captain Thomas J. C. Martyn . . . was asked to give his opinion on recent despatches from Berlin which stated that Count Manfred von Richthofen, celebrated German flyer, was not shot in the air but killed by caitiff riflemen after he had made a safe landing behind the British lines.

-- Friendly Enemies, Time, 12/14/1925

Origin:

c.1300, from Old North French caitive "captive, miserable," from Latin captivum; originally the word meant a "captive, prisoner"