blackguard
nounEtymology
From black + guard, thought to have referred originally to the scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who wore black liveries or blacked shoes and boots, or were often stained with soot.
Definitions
The lowest servant in a household charged with pots, pans, and other kitchen equipment.
An unprincipled, contemptible person
An unprincipled, contemptible person; an untrustworthy person.
- 1830, Thomas Macaulay, Review of Robert Southey's edition of Pilgrim's Progress, in the Edinburgh Review A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard.
- 2006, Jan Freeman, Blaggards' of the year – Boston Globe "Arrr, keelhaul the blaggards!" wrote Ty Burr in the Globe last summer, pronouncing sentence on the malefactors who brought us the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.
A man who uses foul language in front of a woman (typically a woman of high standing).
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.
- Persons who passed each other in boats upon the Thames used to blackguard each other, in a trial of wit
- The Southern Region takes, in the main, a candid line with its public. […] An ill-informed attempt to blackguard the railway publicly is likely to see the complainant put politely—but very firmly—in his place.
- And then the drink is very pleasant to us, and keeps up our spirits; for what could a woman in my position do without spirits, without being able to talk and blackguard and give every fellow she meets as good as he brings?
To act like a blackguard
To act like a blackguard; to be a scoundrel.
The neighborhood
- neighborblackheart
- neighborblackhearted
- neighborblagger
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for blackguard. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA