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Definitions for: Caitiff [n] (archaic) a cowardly and despicable person
[adj] despicably mean and cowardly
Webster (1913) Definition: 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.
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.
Synonyms: coward(a), cowardly, fearful
See Also: cur
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