'Caitiff' definitions:
Definition of 'caitiff'
From: WordNet
adjective
Despicably mean and cowardly
noun
A cowardly and despicable person
Definition of 'Caitiff'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. [1913 Webster]
- Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Caitiff'
From: GCIDE
- Caitiff \Cai"tiff\, n. A captive; a prisoner. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave. --Holland. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A wretched or unfortunate man. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- 3. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]