Blackguard
['blægɑːd;-gəd] or ['blækɡɑrd]
Definition
(n.) The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being smutted by them, were jocularly called the "black guard"; also, the servants and hangers-on of an army.
(n.) The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively.
(n.) A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough.
(n.) A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin.
(v. t.) To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.
(a.) Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, blackguard language.
Checked by Herman
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Scurrilous or abusive fellow, person of low character, vile fellow.
a. Scurrilous, abusive, contumelious, insulting, ribald, vituperative, reproachful, opprobrious.
Typist: Sean
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Scoundrel, rascal, rapscallion, blackleg, villain
ANT:Gentleman
Editor: Patrick
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A man whose qualities prepared for display like a box of berries in a market—the fine ones on top—have been opened on the wrong side. An inverted gentleman.
Editor: Madge
Examples
- Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the late lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable blackguard. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- It's no more than the vague charge of an angry blackguard. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Do you think, Sergeant, the blackguard has got off in that way, without paying? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- On an adjacent island lived a kind of semi-pirate called Alcibiades, who was, and is, a thorough blackguard. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I cannot endure the thought of being in the power of such a blackguard as Leonards. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- This is a private yard,” he pulls out a paper from Boffin's other blackguard, the one I was passed over for. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Alcibiades and some others were scrambling up after you; and then we saw you engage with that foremost blackguard. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed blackguard that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- They've got her, that hell-hound Woodley and the blackguard parson. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Mary, he began, I am a good-for-nothing blackguard. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- He was, I honestly believe, one of the greatest blackguards that ever lived. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- We'll indict the blackguards for felony, and get 'em shipped off to penal settlements. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- I feel myself bound, seeing so many blackguards against you, to stand by you, as long as you choose to keep me in this very disgraceful situation. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
Editor: Ramon