CAITIFF (2)

caitiff (2). Caitiff, n. a base fellow, villain, knave, wretch

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Cai″tiff, n. A captive; a prisoner. Avarice doth tyrannize over her caitiff and slave. Holland. 2. 2. A wretched or unfortunate man. Chaucer.
3. 3. A mean, despicable person; one whose character meanness and wickedness meet.
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.