DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Cai·tiff a.
1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.]
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.]
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.
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caitiff
adj : despicably mean and cowardly
n : a cowardly and despicable person