Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAST'ARD, a.

1. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate.
2. Spurious; not genuine; false; supposititious; adulterate. In this sense, it is applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not genuine; as, a bastard hope, bastard honors. – Shak. Temple. In military affairs, bastard is applied to pieces of artillery which are of an unusual make or proportion, whether longer or shorter, as the double culverin extraordinary, half or quarter culverin extraordinary. – Encyc.