caitiff Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a cowardly and despicable person
  2. adjective satellite despicably mean and cowardly

WordNet

Cai"tiff adjective
Etymology
OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. chétif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave. See Heave, and cf. Captive.
Definitions
  1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. Obs. Chaucer.
  2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.
    Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving.
Cai"tiff noun
Definitions
  1. 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. 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.

Webster 1913