▪ I. bandit
(ˈbændɪt)
Pl. banˈditti, ˈbandits. Forms: 6–7 bandetto, 7 bandite, -ditto, -dyto, -diti, 7–8 -ditty, -dito, 7– bandit. pl. α. 6 -deti, 7 -ditie, 7–8 -diti, -ditty, -dity, 7– ditti; β. 6–7 -dettos, 7 -ditos, -ditoes, -detties, -dities, 7–8 -ditties, 7– dits.
[a. It. bandito ‘proclaimed, proscribed,’ in pl. banditi n. ‘outlaws,’ pa. pple. of bandire = med.L. bannīre to proclaim, proscribe: see ban n. and v., and cf. banish. Early spellings, as well as the current pl. banditti, were apparently corrupted by form-assoc. with ditto n., It. detto, pl. detti. The It. sing. bandito is not now used in Eng.: bandit is also mod.F. But the pl. banditti (for It. banditi) is more used than bandits, esp. in reference to an organized band of robbers; in which sense it has also been used as a collective sing.; in 17th c. this was taken as an individual sing., with pl. -is, -ies.]
a. lit. One who is proscribed or outlawed; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand: usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest the mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Also, in modern use, = gangster 1. See also one-armed bandit.
(Bandetto in first quot. may be attrib. n. or ppl. adj.)
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. i. 135 A Romane Sworder, and Bandetto slaue. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 57 The Bandettos..are certayne outlawes that lie betwixt Rome and Naples. 1602 Life T. Cromwell ii. i. 95 The banditti do you call them?.. I am sure we call them plain thieves in England. 1611 Coryat Crudities 117 The Bandits..are the murdering robbers upon the Alpes. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2310/3 He had lived as a Banditi in Anatolia. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 13. 84 The Examiner is no more a Tory..than a Bandito is a Soldier. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) II. 292 Each conquering great Commander, And mighty Alexander, Were Banditties too. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames vi. 240 A set of lawless Banditti infested the River. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 191 Why, every Baron in the land was a bandit. 1876 Green Short Hist. v. §1. 224 The routed soldiery turned into free companies of bandits. 1935 E. Weekley Something about Words ii. 44 Bandits were formerly Italians, picturesque in costume and impressive in armament; now that they are revived, they ride in motor-cars. 1935 Amer. Speech Apr. 120/1 The world of crime has its significant distinctions: hijacker, car bandit, [etc.]. 1944 Auden For Time Being (1945) 116 The bandit who is good to his mother. |
b. collective sing. A company of bandits.
| 1706 De Foe Jure Div. ii. 15 He form'd the First Banditty of the Age. 1799 Wellington in Owen Disp. 146 In which province an adventurer had assembled a banditti. 1826 Scott Woodst. v. 195 Deer-stealers..are ever a desperate banditti. |
c. attrib.; and in comb., as bandit-haunted.
| [Cf. 1593 in 1.] 1854 J. Abbott Napoleon I. xii. 208 Fierce banditti bands. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) V. ix. ii. 229 Wild Bohemians and bandit soldiers. 1859 Tennyson Enid 879 Bandit-haunted holds. |
d. transf. A hostile aircraft (see quot. 1943).
| 1942 I. Gleed Arise to Conquer xii. 111 One bandit shot down in sea about ten miles out. 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 12 Bandit, enemy aircraft. It is used throughout Fighter Command, and elsewhere... The term was orginally a code word. |
▸ slang (orig. U.S.). like a bandit (also bandits): wildly, with reckless abandon; at a great rate; in an outstanding fashion, to great effect, with a vengeance. Esp. in to make out like a bandit; cf. to make out v. 9a at make v.1 Phrasal verbs 2.
| 1943 Frederick (Maryland) Post 28 June 2/4 Stanley Spence covers center field like a bandit. 1962 Times 13 Dec. 3/6 Gosstrey began by attacking Coldwell off the front foot and running like a bandit between the wickets. 1972 N.Y. Times 11 Mar. 12/6 The only people it helped were the manufacturers. Big business is making out like a bandit. 1988 M. Bishop Unicorn Mountain (1989) xxvi. 313 If she'll do a little stalking-horse work for us, we'll make out like bandits. 1993 Vanity Fair Dec. 154–170 He could, and still can, float like a butterfly for the Bulls and slam-dunk like a bandit. 2001 Time 12 Nov. 101/3 There are more than enough Mac users in the world for Apple to make out like a bandit this holiday season. |
▪ II. † ˈbandit, v. Obs.
[f. It. bandito proscribed: see prec.]
To proscribe, banish, outlaw.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 287 All light gold is bandited, that is, banished out of the Citie [Venice]. 1652 S. S. Secretaries Stud. 264 A Noble man..long since Bandited by the State, for murthering a Gentleman. |