bastard

plural bastards · alternative pronunciation spelling bastid

1. countabledateduncountableA person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.

   Jarrod: Who are you? Heath: Your father’s bastard son.

   1965, The Big Valley

   Synonyms: love child, born in the vestry, illegitimate

2. countableuncountableA mongrel (biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties).
3. countablederogatoryoffensiveuncountableusuallyvulgarA contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person.

   You sick bastard!

   4 more examples

   Some bastard stole my car while I was helping an injured person.

   Don't be such a bastard already!

   I assume that bastard won't be seen again.

   “Oh my God, they killed Kenny!” “You bastards!”

   1997, South Park television program

   Synonyms: son of a bitch, arsehole, asshole, arsehole, ass, assface, asshat, asshole

4. countableendearinghumorousuncountableA man, a fellow, a male friend.

   lucky bastard

   2 more examples

   funny bastard

   Get over here, you old bastard!

5. countableuncountableoften preceded by ‘poor’A suffering person deemed deserving of compassion.

   Poor bastard, I feel so sorry for him.

   1 more example

   These poor bastards started out life probably in bad or broken homes.

6. countableinformaluncountableA child who does not know their father.
7. countableinformaluncountableSomething extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

   Life can be a real bastard.

8. countableuncountableA variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin, fake or counterfeit.

   The architecture was a kind of bastard, suggesting Gothic but not being true Gothic.

   1 more example

   There were also made good and politic laws that parliament, against usury, which is the bastard use of money...

   1622, Francis Bacon, Bacon's History of the Reign of King Henry VII, Cambridge University Press, published 1902, page 62

9. countableuncountableA bastard file.
10. countableuncountableA kind of sweet wine.

    […] we ſhall haue all the world drinke browne & white baſtard.

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 72, column 2

11. countableuncountableA sword that is midway in length between a short-sword and a long sword; also bastard sword.
12. countableuncountableAn inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from syrups that have been boiled several times.
13. countableuncountableA large mould for straining sugar.
14. countableuncountableA writing paper of a particular size.

    Synonyms: copy

15. UKcountablederogatoryuncountablegovernmentA Eurosceptic Conservative MP, especially in the government of John Major.

    In the UK, Conservative Maastricht rebels (the 'bastards') almost brought down Conservative Prime Minister John Major's government.

    2014 September 23, Stanley Johnson, Stanley, I Resume: Further recollections of an exuberant life, Biteback Publishing, →ISBN

    4 more examples

    If you are a politician, you make sure that you know all such references in case an interviewer suddenly asks, 'Are you one of the bastards in Mr Major's cabinet?'

    2000, Peter Hobday, Managing the message, Allison & Busby

    While John Major managed to get the Maastricht Treaty through parliament, despite the efforts of the “bastards” in his cabinet, the 2001 Conservative General Election campaign was fought on entirely eurosceptic lines.

    2011, Duncan Hall, A2 Government and Politics: Ideologies and Ideologies in Action, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 62

    One “bastard,” the Minister for Wales, John Redwood (who mounted an unsuccessful campaign to displace the Tory chief, John Major), was removed in a Cabinet reshuffle; but was his young successor William Hague any more reliable?

    2014, Melvin J. Lasky, Profanity, Obscenity and the Media, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN

    But there is no doubt that the “bastards,” who had tormented so many Tory leaders over the years, had won. The longed-for break with “Europe” had finally come, but at the same price that Americans paid for Trump's takeover of the Republican Party.

    2020 September 3, Ian Buruma, The Churchill Complex: The Rise and Fall of the Special Relationship from Winston and FDR to Trump and Johnson, Atlantic Books, →ISBN

comparative more bastard · superlative most bastard · alternative pronunciation spelling bastid

1. Of or like a bastard (illegitimate human descendant).
2. Of or like a bastard (bad person).
3. Of or like a mongrel, bastardized creature/cross.
4. Of abnormal, irregular or otherwise inferior qualities (size, shape etc).

   a bastard musket

   1 more example

   a bastard culverin

   1. Spurious, lacking authenticity: counterfeit, fake.

      that bastard self-love which is so vicious in itself, and productive of so many vices

      a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC

   2. Imperfect; not spoken or written well or in the classical style; broken.

      Of what race could these people be? Their language was a bastard Arabic, and yet they were not Arabs; I was quite sure of that.

      1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

5. Used in the vernacular name of a species to indicate that it is similar in some way to another species, often (but not always) one of another genus.

   bastard gemsbok; bastard mahogany; bastard toadflax; bastard trumpeter

6. IrelandUKvulgarVery unpleasant.

   I’ve got a bastard headache.

7. mediaAbbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
8. theater lightingConsisting of one predominant color blended with small amounts of complementary color; used to replicate natural light because of their warmer appearance.

   A bastard orange gel produces predominantly orange light with undertones of blue.

alternative pronunciation spelling bastid

1. rarevulgarExclamation of strong dismay or strong sense of being upset.

   “Isn’t she lovely?” Clem asks, hopefully rhetorically. “Oh, bastard. I’ve got to go—that’s my signal. […]”

   2006, Emily Franklin, Love from London, Penguin, →ISBN, page 212

   2 more examples

   Jack says, “Oh! Bastard! I’m hit!” That bullet had to have come in the busted back window and how it missed Johnnie to hit Jack I don’t know.

   2001, Stephen King, “The Death of Jack Hamilton”, in Everything's Eventual, Simon and Schuster, published 2007, →ISBN, page 90

   “Yes, I’m hhhhowwwwwwcch!” she yelped as she stubbed her toe against the bedpost. “Shit, shit, fuck, bastard, shit, crap!”

   2004, Cecelia Ahern, PS, I Love You, Hyperion, →ISBN, page 7

present singular third person bastards · participle present bastarding · participle past bastarded · past bastarded · alternative pronunciation spelling bastid

1. obsoleteTo bastardize.

   After her husband's death she was matter of tragedy , having lived to see her brother beheaded , and her two sons deposed from the crown , bastarded in their blood

   1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC

plural Bastards

1. A surname from Old French.