Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Caitiff?

\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.