a. [ 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. ] 1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A captive; a prisoner. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A wretched or unfortunate man. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]