caird

American  

[kaird, keyrd] / kɛərd, keɪrd /

noun

Scot.

1. a traveling tinker, especially a Romani.

2. a wandering tramp or vagrant.

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caird British  

/ kerd, kɛəd /

noun

1. obsolete a travelling tinker; vagrant

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Etymology

Origin of caird

First recorded in 1655–65; from Scots Gaelic ceard “tinker”; akin to Latin cerdō “workman,” Greek kerdṓ “cunning one”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caird

Over her shoulder she said in a voice that wavered slightly: 'That was hard cheese, Wullie, but ye maun send her a cheerier-like caird next time.

From Wee Macgreegor Enlists by J. J. (John Joy) Bell

And Mysie, wha's clavering aunty Wud match her wi' Laurie the Laird, And learns the young fule to be vaunty, But neither to spin nor to caird.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 3 by Hamilton Wright Mabie

I'll make sae bauld, miss, au to chairge ye wi' that bit caird.

From Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins

But tho’ his little heart did grieve When round the tinkler prest her, He feign’d to snirtle in his sleeve, When thus the caird address’d her: AIR.

From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Robert Burns

Cruikshank's caird is a noble creature; his face and figure show him to be fully capable of doing and saying all that is above written of him.

From George Cruikshank by William Makepeace Thackeray