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. ]
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 ]
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 ]