WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Cai"tiff
Part of Speech : a.
Etymology : [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable, OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. ch?tif, fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E. heave. See Heave, and cf. Captive.]
Definition : 1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Cai"tiff
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913