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Blackguard   Listen
noun
Blackguard  n.  
1.
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. (Obs.) "A lousy slave, that... rode with the black guard in the duke's carriage, 'mongst spits and dripping pans."
2.
The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively. (Obs.)
3.
A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough. "A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard."
4.
A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin. (Obs.)



verb
Blackguard  v. t.  (past & past part. blackguarded; pres. part. blackguarding)  To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.



adjective
Blackguard  adj.  Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, blackguard language.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Blackguard" Quotes from Famous Books



... blackguard. The same sense of propriety that governs in private companies, governs in public life. If a man in company runs his wit upon another, it may draw a smile from some persons present, but as soon as he turns a blackguard in his language the company gives him up; and it is the same in public life. The event of the late election shows this to be true; for in proportion as those papers have become more and more vulgar ...
— The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete - With Index to Volumes I - IV • Thomas Paine

... at dinner yesterday at William Ponsonby's. The only Irish (agitators) were he and O'Gorman Mahon; ——, he said, was too great a blackguard, and he would not invite him. O'Connell arrived from Ireland that day; there is nothing remarkable in his manner, appearance, or conversation, but he seems lively, well bred, and at his ease. I asked him after dinner 'whether ...
— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William - IV, Volume 1 (of 3) • Charles C. F. Greville

... smoked, but not, I think, a pipe. Swinburne, on the other hand, detested tobacco, and expressed himself on the subject with characteristic extravagance and vehemence—"James I was a knave, a tyrant, a fool, a liar, a coward. But I love him, I worship him, because he slit the throat of that blackguard Raleigh who invented this filthy smoking!" Professor Blackie, in a letter to his wife, remarked: "The first thing I said on entering the public room was—'What a delightful thing the smell of tobacco is, in a warm room on a wet night!' ... I gave my opinion with ...
— The Social History of Smoking • G. L. Apperson

... Brandon. He was one of our family devils, he was. A devil in a family now and then is not such a bad thing, when there's work for him.' (All the time he was talking to me his angry little eyes were following Lake.) 'They say he killed his son, a blackguard, who was found shot, with his face in the tarn in the park. He was going to marry the gamekeeper's daughter, it was thought, and he and the old boy, who was for high blood, and all that, were at loggerheads about it. It was not proved, only thought likely, which showed ...
— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... to tell him from me that he is a most infernal blackguard. That if he attempts to carry this abominable plot any further I will post him at every one of his clubs as a liar and a cheat, and—and that he had better keep out of my way. As for you, sir, I would advise you to look into his character, ...
— Doctor Claudius, A True Story • F. Marion Crawford


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