bastard

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑːs.təd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbæs.tɚd/

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From Middle English bastard, bastarde, from Anglo-Norman bastard (“illegitimate child”), from Old Low Frankish *bāst (“marriage”) (compare Middle Dutch bast (“lust, heat”)) and derogatory suffix -ard, from Proto-Germanic *banstuz (“bond, tie”) (compare West Frisian boask, boaste (“marriage”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”); or equivalent to bast +‎ -ard. Cognate with West Frisian bastert (“bastard”), Dutch bastaard (“bastard”), German Bastard (“bastard”), Icelandic bastarður (“bastard”). Probably originally referred to a child from a polygynous marriage of Germanic custom but not sanctioned by the Church. Related to boose.

bastard (plural bastards)

1. A person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.
   • Television program The Big Valley, 1965

     Jarrod: Who are you?

     Heath: Your father's bastard son.

2. A mongrel. A biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties.
3. (vulgar or derogatory, sometimes referring to a man) A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person. See asshole, sod.

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

   • 1997, South Park television program

     "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!"

4. (often humorous) A man, a fellow, a male friend.

   lucky bastard, poor bastard

   Get over here, you old bastard!

5. (often preceded by 'poor') A person deserving of pity.

   Poor bastard, I feel so sorry for him.

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

6. (informal) A child who does not know his or her father.
7. (informal) Something extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

   Life can be a real bastard.

8. A 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.

   • 1622, Francis Bacon, Bacon's History of the Reign of King Henry VII, Cambridge University Press (1902), page 62:

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

9. 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

10. An intermediate-grade file; also bastard file.
11. A sweet wine.
    • William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure:

      We shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.

12. A sword that is midway in length between a short-sword and a long sword; also bastard sword.
13. An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from syrups that have been boiled several times.
14. A large mould for straining sugar.
15. A writing paper of a particular size.
16. (Britain, politics, derogatory) A Eurosceptic Conservative MP, especially in the government of John Major.
    • 2000, Peter Hobday, Managing the message, Allison & Busby

      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?'

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

      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.

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

      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?

• (one born to unmarried parents): Not always regarded as a (religious) stigma (in canon law prohibitive for clerical office without papal indult): Norman duke William, the Conqueror of England, is referred to in state documents as "William the Bastard"; a Burgundian prince was even officially styled Great Bastard of Burgundy.

• legitimate

• (illegitimate descendant): love-child, born in the vestry, illegitimate, see also Thesaurus:bastard
• (term of abuse): son of a bitch; arsehole, asshole, see also Thesaurus:git and Thesaurus:jerk

bastard (comparative more bastard, superlative most bastard)

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; a bastard culverin

5. spurious, lacking authenticity: counterfeit, fake
   • Barrow

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

6. (Britain, vulgar) Very unpleasant.

   I've got a bastard headache.

7. (printing) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
8. (theater lighting) Consisting 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.

bastard!

1. (rare) Exclamation of strong dismay or strong sense of being upset.
   • 2001, Stephen King, “The Death of Jack Hamilton”, in Everything's Eventual, Simon and Schuster (2007), →ISBN, page 90:

     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.

   • 2004, Cecelia Ahern, PS, I Love You (novel), Hyperion, →ISBN, page 7:

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

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

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

bastard (third-person singular simple present bastards, present participle bastarding, simple past and past participle bastarded)

1. (obsolete) To bastardize.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

• bastard at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “bastard” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “mongrel” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• Barstad, batards, tabards

bastard m

1. bastard, love child (person born to unmarried parents)
2. bastard, mongrel (biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties)
3. bastard, asshole

• (love-child) levoboček

• bastard in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• bastard in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

From Old French bastard.

• IPA^(key): /bastard/, [b̥aˈsd̥ɑːˀd̥] or IPA^(key): /bastar/, [b̥aˈsd̥ɑːˀ]

bastard c (singular definite bastarden, plural indefinite bastarder)

1. crossbreed (an organism produced by mating of individuals of different varieties or breeds)
2. mongrel (someone of mixed kind or uncertain origin, especially a dog)
3. (dated) bastard (person who was born out of wedlock)

• (crossbreed): hybrid, krydsning

• bastart

Borrowed from Middle English bastard, from Old French bastard.

bastard m (genitive singular bastaird, nominative plural bastaird)

1. bastard

• bastard madra (“mongrel”, literally “bastard dog”)
• bastardaíocht f (“bastardy; blackguardism”)

• "bastard" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “bastard” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

• bastarde, basterd, bastart

From Anglo-Norman bastard; equivalent to bast (“illegitimacy”) +‎ -ard.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbastard/, /ˈbastaːrd/, /ˈbastərd/

bastard (plural bastardes)

1. An illegitimate child, especially a noble one; a bastard.
2. A kind of fortified wine, often with spices added.
3. (rare) A heretic or sinner; one separated from one's deity.
4. (rare) A dog that isn't purebred; a mutt or mongrel.
5. (rare) A botanical tendril or offshoot.

• bastardie

• English: bastard
• Scots: bastart, bastert

• “bastā̆rd (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

bastard

1. Coming from wedlock or bastardy; illegitimate.
2. Low-quality, inferior, imitation; of bad manufacture.
3. (rare) Not purebred; of mixed lineage.
4. (rare) Made using or incorporating fortified wine.
5. (rare) Wrong, erroneous, incorrect.

• English: bastard
• Scots: bastart, bastert

• “bastā̆rd (n. as adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-03.

• bastart

From Old French bastard, from Late Latin bastardus.

bastard m (plural bastars, feminine singular bastarde, feminine plural bastardes)

1. bastard (child born outside of wedlock)

bastard m (feminine singular bastarde, masculine plural bastars, feminine plural bastardes)

1. bastard

• French: bâtard

From Late Latin bastardus, of Germanic origin, possibly Frankish.

bastard m (oblique plural bastarz or bastartz, nominative singular bastarz or bastartz, nominative plural bastard)

1. bastard (person conceived to unmarried parents)
   • 12th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     Vos savez bien qe je sui de bas lin, [e]t sui bastars

     You know well that I am of low birth, and I am a bastard

2. (derogatory, usually vocative) bastard (insult)

bastard m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bastarde)

1. bastard (conceived by unmarried parents)

• → English: bastard
• French: bâtard