\Cai"tiff\, a. [OE. caitif, cheitif, captive, miserable,
OF. caitif, chaitif, captive, mean, wretched, F. ch['e]tif,
fr. L. captivus captive, fr. capere to take, akin to E.
heave. See {Heave}, and cf. {Captive}.]
1. Captive; wretched; unfortunate. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
2. Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable.
         Arnold had sped his caitiff flight.   --W. Irving.

\Cai"tiff\, n.
A captive; a prisoner. [Obs.]
      Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave.
                                               --Holland.
2. A wretched or unfortunate man. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
3. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness
   and wickedness meet.
Note: 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.