23 April 2016

caitiff

[key-tif] Archaic.

noun

1. a base, despicable person.
adjective
2. base; despicable.

Origin of caitiff

Latin Middle English Anglo-French
1250-1300; Middle English caitif < Anglo-French < Latin captīvus captive

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for caitiff

Historical Examples

The constable has sworn that the caitiff had pea-green hair.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 107, October 6, 1894
Various

Her eloquent sighs and sobs soon told the caitiff he had nothing to fear.
A Simpleton
Charles Reade

Galaor spurred to the rescue, and by his aid the caitiff crew were slain or routed.
Legends & Romances of Spain
Lewis Spence

What man would be so caitiff and thrall as to fail you at your need?
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle

caitiff, you knew there was another one worth all these twice told.
The Cloister and the Hearth
Charles Reade

The caitiff who had undersold them was in the village at that moment!
The Woodlands Orchids
Frederick Boyle

They set a spy on her, a caitiff priest named L’Oyseleur, who pretended to be her friend, and who betrayed her.
The Red True Story Book
Various

So long as this caitiff knight lives, your life will not be safe.
Saint George for England
G. A. Henty

We passed for good knights one time: / what caitiff ‘s death, if we Here in far-off country / a woman’s game are doomed to be!
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown

Then after the search ‘he perceived the barrels and so bound the caitiff fast.’
What Gunpowder Plot Was
Samuel Rawson Gardiner

Anagram

If I fact

Today’s quote

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

On this day

23 April 1564 – birth of William Shakespeare, the Bard. English poet and playwright.

23 April 1616 – death of William Shakespeare, the Bard. English poet and playwright. Shakespeare invented more than 1700 words which are now in common use. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives and joining words that normally wouldn’t be joined.

23 April 1928 – birth of Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer and former U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. Died 10 February 2014.