▪ I. blackguard, n. and a.
(ˈblægəd)
(Written 6–8 as two words, 7–8 with hyphen, 8–9 as one word.)
[lit. Black Guard, concerning the original application of which there is some doubt. It is possible that senses 1 and 2 began independently of each other; or the one may have originated in a play upon the other, black being taken with a different sense; it would be difficult to assign priority to either. It is even possible that there may have been a guard of soldiers at Westminster called the Black Guard, or that, as some suggest, the attendants or torch-bearers at a funeral, or the link-boys of the streets, may have had this name.]
The following quotations, including the earliest known, show this uncertainty: they may belong to ascertained senses, but cannot be certainly located:
| 1532 MS. Churchw. Acc. St. Marg. Westm. (Receipts for burials), Item Receyvid for the lycens of iiij. torchis of the blake garde vjd. 1568 Fulwell Like wil to like B iij, Thou art serued as Harry hangman captain of the black garde. Nay, I am serued, as Haman, etc. 1578 H. Killigrew in Cal. State Pap., Dom. Add. Rolls Ser. 530 A woman has been murdered in Court by the black guard [cf. p. 532 certain soldiers, for the murder of a woman were condemned to die]. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. (1651) 42 Inferiour to those of their own rank..as the black guard in a Princes Court. 1633 Shirley Tri. Peace 280 There rush in a carpenter, a painter, one of the black guard. |
A. n.
I. A body of persons.
† 1. The lowest menials of a royal or noble household, who had charge of pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, and rode in the wagons conveying these during journeys from one residence to another; the scullions and kitchen-knaves. Obs.
| 1535 Sir W. Fitzwilliams 17 Aug. in Cal. State Pap., Two of the ring-leaders had been some time of the Black Guard of the Kings kitchen. 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 779 They ought not, nor yet any of the scullerie or blacke garde. 1612 Webster White Devil 1, A lousy slave, that..rode with the black guard in the dukes carriage, 'mongst spits and dripping-pans. 1631 R. Brathwait Whimzies 56 In progresse time..shee followes the court; and consorts familiarly with the black-guard. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1407 Thou art some paltry Black-guard Sprite, Condemned to drudgery in the night. |
† b. Those who held a similar position in an army; the servants and camp-followers; the rabble of irregular hangers-on and followers. Also fig. Obs.
| 1560 Jewel Corr. Cole iii, Haue the learned men of your side none other Doctors? for alas these that ye alleage..are scarcely worthy to be allowed amongst the blacke garde. a 1640 Day Parl. Bees iv. (1881) 29 Such silken clownes, When wee with bloud deserve, share our reward—We held scarce fellow-mates to the blacke guard. 1640 Fuller Joseph's Coat (1867) 46 The black guard of Romish traditions, which lag still behind. 1654 Trapp Comm. Ps. xviii. 13 Ye have lyen among the Pots, black and sooty, as the black guard of an army. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 8 The Muses Black-guard, that like those of our Camp, have no share in the Danger or Honour, yet have the greatest in the Plunder. |
† 2. A guard of attendants, black in person, dress, or character; a following of ‘black’ villains. Obs.
| 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1583) II. 801 The Blacke gard of the Dominike friers..were not all mute, but laide lustily from them. 1583 Fulke Defence x. 386 Pelagius, Celestius, and other like heretics of the devils black guard. 1609 Dekker Lanth. & Candle-Lt. Wks. 1884–5 III. 214 The great Lord of Limbo did therefore commaund all his Blacke Guard that stood about him, to bestirre them. 1676 Hale Contempl. 97 An Apostle, one of the twelve, he it is that conducts this black Guard. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-Cr. ii. iii. 28 This Black-guard [Jaylors and Hangmen] is the only Life-guard of a High-flown, Persecuting..Ceremony-monger. |
† 3. The vagabond, loafing, or criminal class of a community; the blackguardry. Obs.
| 1683 in N. & Q. Ser. i. (1854) IX. 15/2 A sort of vicious idle and masterless boyes and rogues commonly called the Black⁓guard..do usually haunt and follow the Court. 1688 Sir J. Knatchbull Diary in N. & Q. Ser. iii. (1864) VI. 2/2 For fear of some of the black guard of Canterbury that had horsed themselves, and had been padding on the road ever since Sunday. 1704 in Stow's Surv. (ed. Strype) i. xxvi, Such who are commonly known by the name of the Black Guard, who too commonly lived upon Pilfering Sugar and Tobacco on the Keys, and afterwards became Pickpockets and House Breakers. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 143 How prevent your sons from consorting with the blackguard? |
† b. esp. The vagrant children of great towns; the ‘city Arabs,’ who run errands, black shoes, etc.
| 1715 Nelson Addr. Pers. Qual. 214 The distressed Children called the Black-guard. Ibid. App. 53 The Children commonly call'd, Blackguard Boys, are destitute of all manner of Provision for Instruction. 1725 De Foe Everybody's Bus. 20 Above ten thousand wicked idle pilfering vagrants..called the black-guard, who black your honour's shoes, etc. 1736 Bailey, Black-guard, dirty tatter'd Boys, who ply the Streets to clean shoes. |
II. An individual.
† 4. A guard or soldier black in person, dress, or character. Also fig. Cf. 2. Obs.
| 1563 R. Baker in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 133 The Captein now past charge of this brutish blacke gard. 1696 Brookhouse Temple Open. 6 Satan..placed his Black Guards there. 1745 Lond. Mag. 391 He was oblig'd to set up his corps of Black-Guards to escorte him to and from the Senate. |
† 5. A soldier's boy; a street shoe-black; a ‘city Arab’ picking up a living by blacking boots, and other jobs, or in less honest ways. Obs.
| 1698 Boyer Fr. Dict. (1719), Goujat, a soldiers boy, a Black-guard. 1725 Swift Wood's Petit. Wks. 1755 IV. i. 285 The little black-guard Who gets very hard His halfpence for cleaning your shoes. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Black guard, a shabby dirty fellow; a term said to be derived from a number of dirty tattered and roguish boys, who attended at the horse guards..St. James's park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do any other dirty offices, these..were nick-named the black guards. |
6. One of the idle criminal class; a ‘rough’; hence, a low worthless character addicted to or ready for crime; an open scoundrel. (A term of the utmost opprobrium.)
| 1736 Hervey Mem. Geo. II, I. 284 This step so strengthened his majesty's enmity that ‘scoundrel, rascal or black⁓guard’ never failed of being tacked to his name. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 259 If the singing of the ploughman in the country is..compared with that of the London blackguard. c 1780 Burns Twa Dogs, And cheat like ony unhang'd blackguard. 1830 Macaulay Bunyan, A man whose manners and sentiments are decidedly below those of his class deserves to be called a blackguard. 1836 Marryat Midship. Easy x, You impudent blackguard, if you say another word, I'll give you a good thrashing. |
7. A name for a kind of snuff. Also called Irish blackguard.
[The story runs, that Lundy Foot, the Dublin snuff-merchant, when a shop-boy, made a mistake in the preparation of some snuff, for which his master called him an ‘Irish Blackguard’: but the mistake turning out a fortunate one, the new preparation obtained the name given to its author.]
| 1792 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes K. Long Wks. 1812 III. 155 An ounce of blackguard or a yard of cloth. 1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 12 Oct. 643/1 Knowing the snuff to be real blackguard. 1871 Forster in Lit. World 370/1 Taking in moderate quantities the snuff called Irish blackguard. |
B. attrib. or adj.
† 1. Of or pertaining to the shoe-black or street Arab class. Obs. (In 1670 applied to a link-boy.)
| c 1670 Earl of Dorset Song ‘Dorinda's sparkling wit,’ Her Cupid is a blackguard boy, That runs his link full in your face. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 91 What is written we send to your house by a black-guard boy. c 1735 ― Direct. Servants, Cook, Let a blackguard boy be always about the house to send on your errands. 1822 H. Mackenzie Life Home, Idle and blackguard boys bawl through the streets. |
2. Of or pertaining to the dregs of the community; of low, worthless character; brutally vicious or scurrilous; blackguardly.
| 1784 Cornwallis Corr. (1859) I. vi. 166 The Duchess of Devonshire is indefatigable in her canvas for Fox; she was in the most blackguard houses in Long Acre by eight o'clock this morning. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Pr. viii, A blackguard smuggler right behint her. 1788 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Peter's Pens. Wks. 1812 II. 13 Instead of that vile appellation, Devil, So blackguard, so unfriendly, and uncivil. 1818 Byron Let. Wks. (1846) 397/2, I have heard him use language as blackguard as his action. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown viii. (1871) 163 Marking certain things as low and blackguard. |
▪ II. blackguard, v.
(ˈblægɑːd)
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. To act the blackguard (sense 3, 6); to ‘loaf,’ play the vagabond.
| 1786 Burns Holy Fair ix, An' there a batch of wabster lads, Blackguardin frae Kilmarnock, For fun this day. |
2. trans. To treat as a blackguard; to abuse or revile in scurrilous terms.
| 1823 Cobbett Weekly Reg. XLVIII. 642/2 You, in your quality of Saint, may claim a right to becall and to blackguard, as much as you please, any portion of the rest of mankind. 1837 Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 518 The ‘Monthly Review,’..turned against me afterwards and literally blackguarded ‘Madoc.’ 1872 Lever Ld. Kilgobbin xxi. (1875) 130 I'd bear a deal of blackguarding from the press. |
Hence ˈblackguarding vbl. n. (see above).