caitiff
['ketɪf]
a. 卑劣

n. 卑鄙



caitiff
[ noun ]

1. a cowardly and despicable person

<noun.person>

[ adj ]

1. despicably mean and cowardly

<adj.all>

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.


Caitiff \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.