desperado English · revision 1908

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /dɛspəˈɹɑːdəʊ/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably a mock-Spanish alteration of the obsolete noun [[desperate]] “a desperate person, a reckless criminal”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from the adjective ''desperate''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate) Old Spanish had an adjective ''desperado'' “out of hope”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) but Etymonline says it was apparently never used as a noun and probably has nothing to do with the English word.^(Etymonline) The AHD instead derives the word from Spanish ''desperado'', ''desesperado'' “a desperate person”, from ''desesperar'' “to despair”.^(AHD) The root is [[la|desperare|t=to despair]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A person in despair or in a desperate condition (1610).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first sense is obsolete.^(OED 1989) From 1647 the word meant a desperate or reckless man, ready for any lawless or violent deed;^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate) it is now used especially of the bandits and outlaws of the American West.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1563 – the obsolete noun ''desperate'', a desperate person.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1610 – a person in despair.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1647 – a reckless criminal.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A bold, reckless or violent [[criminal]] or [[outlaw]], especially of the American [[frontier]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person in desperate circumstances.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[despair]]

+ * [[desperate]]

+ * [[bravado]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}