Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A bold or desperate outlaw, especially of the American frontier.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A desperate or reckless man; one urged by furious passions; one habituated to lawless deeds either for himself or for others.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A reckless, furious man; a person urged by furious passions, and regardless of consequence; a wild ruffian.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
bold outlaw , especially one from southern portions of theWild West .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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You have information as to the arrival of a man known as a desperado with a grudge against the two dead men, yet you know of no steps to take.
The Call of the Cumberlands Charles Neville Buck 1904
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On the other hand, his evil repute has been wildly exaggerated by careless journalists and their local informants, who seek to embellish their limited acquaintance with a "desperado"; with the result that the real man has been virtually entombed by tale and legend which since his death has petrified as myth.
An Epic of the Everglades Dirda, Michael 2008
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If LTC Shaffer such a "desperado," why did he get a security clearance in the first place and why did it keep getting renewed?
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If LTC Shaffer such a "desperado," why did he get a security clearance in the first place and why did it keep getting renewed?
September 2005 2005
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"beseeches" the brigand for "his son Onesimus," telling him that now he receives him "forever," and then calls the desperado "our dearly beloved fellow-laborer"!
The Sable Cloud A Southern Tale With Northern Comments (1861) Nehemiah Adams 1842
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About this period a "desperado" of world-wide fame named Harry Tracy was raising a siege of terror in the State of Oregon, having committed over a dozen murders, and successfully baffled the police.
From Paris to New York by Land Harry De Windt 1894
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Lately a child in the other cabin was taken ill, and though there were idle men and horses at hand, it was only the "desperado" who rode sixty miles in "the shortest time ever made" to bring the doctor.
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The title of "desperado," "Negro murderer," is very easily obtained in the South.
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Little danger but the Edition will sell; Fraser knows his own Trade well enough, and is as much a "desperado" as poor Attila
The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol. I Thomas Carlyle 1838
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IFP deputy chairman Lionel Mtshali on Monday said: "It astonishes us that the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal can allow the premier of this province to be described as a desperado and as
bilby commented on the word desperado
Bold indeed, WordNet's got it this time.
September 5, 2008