Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WRETCH, n. [Sax. wræcca, one who is driven, an exile. See Wreck, and ערק, Class Rg, No. 48.]

1. A miserable person; one sunk in the deepest distress as, a forlorn wretch.
2. A worthless mortal; as, a contemptible wretch.
3. A person sunk in vice; as, a profligate wretch.
4. It is sometimes used by way of slight or ironical pity ot contempt. Poor wretch was never frighted so. – Drayton.
5. It is sometimes used to express tenderness; as we say poor thing.