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Desperado

noun, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.
"The kind of persons who excite or give signal to such revolutions — students, young men of letters […], or fierce and justly bankrupt desperadoes, acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it into flame, — might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch."
2
a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier) wordnet
3
A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, an addict, etc. colloquial
"The shortstops and desperados were not permitted to play in this marker crap game."
4
A person who is desperately in love or is desperate for a romantic or sexual relationship. colloquial
5
A piece that seems determined to give itself up, typically to bring about stalemate or perpetual check.

Etymology

From obsolete Spanish desperado, past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”), from Latin disperare (“to despair, to lose hope”), from prefix dis- + sperare (“to hope”). Doublet of desperate.

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