blackguard
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L317043 on Wikidata ↗verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L330954 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈblæɡəd/ / /ˈblæɡɚd/
noun
Etymology: 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.
- The lowest servant in a household charged with pots, pans, and other kitchen equipment.
- 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.”
“Pawn another man's property for the sake of a meal, eat and drink one's self to perdition, brand one's soul with the first little sear, set the first black mark against one's honour, call one's self a blackguard to one's own face, and needs must cast one's eyes down before one's self? Never! never!”
- A man who uses foul language in front of a woman (typically a woman of high standing).
verb
Etymology: 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.
- 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.”
- To act like a blackguard; to be a scoundrel.