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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Villain
VIL'LAIN
,Definition 2024
villain
villain
English
a stereotypical villain (1 & 2)
Alternative forms
- villan (archaic)
Noun
villain (plural villains)
- (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): A vile, wicked person.
- The bad person in a work of fiction; often the main antagonist of the hero.
- 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre:
- Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
- July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises
- As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.
-
- (poker) Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”).
- Let's discuss how to play if you are the chip leader (that is, if you have more chips than all the villains).
- Archaic form of villein.
Synonyms
- knave
- rascal
- scamp
- bad guy
- cad
- See also Wikisaurus:villain
- See also Wikisaurus:troublemaker
- antagonist
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
scoundrel
|
|
bad person in a stage or screen play
|
|
A peasant free of serfdom
Verb
villain (third-person singular simple present villains, present participle villaining, simple past and past participle villained)
- (obsolete, transitive) To debase; to degrade.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir T. More to this entry?)
Old French
Noun
villain m (oblique plural villainz, nominative singular villainz, nominative plural villain)
- Alternative form of vilain