Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Caitiff
Cai′tiff
,Adj.
1.
Captive; wretched; unfortunate.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
2.
Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.
Arnold had sped his
caitiff
flight. W. Irving.
Cai′tiff
,Noun.
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.