Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Villain
Vil′lain
,Noun.
1.
(Feudal Law)
One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant.
[In this sense written also
villan
, and villein
.] If any of my ansectors was a tenant, and a servant, and held his lands as a
villain
to his lord, his posterity also must do so, though accidentally they become noble. Jer. Taylor.
☞ Villains were of two sorts; villains regardant, that is, annexed to the manor (LL. adscripti glebae); and villains in gross, that is, annexed to the person of their lord, and transferable from one to another.
Blackstone.
2.
A baseborn or clownish person; a boor.
[R.]
Pour the blood of the
villain
in one basin, and the blood of the gentleman in another, what difference shall there be proved? Becon.
3.
A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp.
Like a
villain
with a smiling cheek. Shakespeare
Calm, thinking
villains
, whom no faith could fix. Pope.
Vil′lain
,Adj.
[F.
vilain
.] Villainous.
[R.]
Shak.
Vil′lain
,Verb.
T.
To debase; to degrade.
[Obs.]
Sir T. More.