blackguard

[ blag-ahrd, -erd, blak-gahrd ]
See synonyms for: blackguardblackguardedblackguardingblackguardly on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a low, contemptible person; scoundrel.

  2. Obsolete.

    • a group of menial workers in the kitchen of a large household.

    • the servants of an army.

    • camp followers.

verb (used with object)
  1. to revile in scurrilous language.

Origin of blackguard

1
1525–35; black + guard; original sense obscure

Other words for blackguard

Other words from blackguard

  • black·guard·ism, noun
  • black·guard·ly, adverb

Words Nearby blackguard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use blackguard in a sentence

  • Not exactly, except that I heard my stepfather denounce the doctor as an infernal cur and blackguard.

    The Doctor of Pimlico | William Le Queux
  • Diard was, therefore, not a mere commonplace gambler who is seen to be a blackguard, and ends by begging.

    Juana | Honore de Balzac
  • “You blackguard,” said Eric, standing irresolutely for a few minutes; and then with tears in his eyes began to climb the wall.

    Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar
  • If you had not prevented him, that blackguard would have used abusive language to me and ranged himself on your side.

  • There was a drunken-looking blackguard opposite us in church,” he said to his son as they drove home; “do you know who he was?

British Dictionary definitions for blackguard

blackguard

/ (ˈblæɡɑːd, -ɡəd) /


noun
    • an unprincipled contemptible person; scoundrel

    • (as modifier): blackguard language

verb
  1. (tr) to ridicule or denounce with abusive language

  2. (intr) to behave like a blackguard

Origin of blackguard

1
C16: originally a collective noun referring to the lowest menials in court, camp followers, vagabonds; see black, guard

Derived forms of blackguard

  • blackguardism, noun
  • blackguardly, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012