Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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}.
\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.
\Bas"tard\, v. t. To bastardize. [Obs.] --Bacon.