Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAI'TIF, n. [Fr. chetif; It. cattivo, a captive, a slave, a rascal; cattivare, to master, to enslave. This word is from the L. captivus, a captive, from capio or capto, to take. The sense of knavery is from the natural connection between the degradation of a slave, and vice.]

A mean villain; a despicable knave; it implies a mixture of wickedness and misery. – Johnson.