desperado

Definition

A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.

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.

Example Sentences

• "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."
• "Surely this was the face of a desperado."
• "The shortstops and desperados were not permitted to play in this marker crap game."