Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DASTARDLY

Cowardly; meanly timid; base; sneaking.

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

DASTARDLY

DASTARDLY Das "tard *ly, a.

 

Defn: Meanly timid; cowardly; base; as, a dastardly outrage.

 

New American Oxford Dictionary

dastardly

das tard ly |ˈdastərdlē ˈdæstərdli | ▶adjective dated, humorous wicked and cruel: pirates and their dastardly deeds. DERIVATIVES das tard li ness noun ORIGIN mid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘dull or stupid ’): from dastard in the obsolete sense ‘base coward. ’

 

Oxford Dictionary

dastardly

das |tard ¦ly |ˈdastədli, ˈdɑː -| ▶adjective dated or humorous wicked and cruel: pirates and their dastardly deeds. DERIVATIVES dastardliness noun ORIGIN mid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘dull or stupid ’): from dastard in the obsolete sense ‘base coward ’.

 

American Oxford Thesaurus

dastardly

dastardly adjective their dastardly plan to kidnap Hayes: wicked, evil, heinous, villainous, diabolical, fiendish, barbarous, cruel, black, dark, rotten, vile, monstrous, abominable, despicable, degenerate, sordid; bad, base, mean, low, cowardly, dishonorable, dishonest, unscrupulous, unprincipled; informal lowdown, dirty, shady, rascally, crooked; beastly. ANTONYMS noble. USAGE dastard, dastardly Dastard (= coward ) is commonly muddled because of the sound association with its harsher rhyme, bastard. Although English usage authority H. W. Fowler insisted that dastard should be reserved for “one who avoids all personal risk, ” modern American writers tend to use it as a printable euphemism for the more widely objectionable epithet —e.g.: “Samuel Ramey is the dastard of the piece, the treacherous, lecherous, murderous Assur. ” ( Los Angeles Times; May 22, 1994.) British writers, on the other hand, have remained truer to the word's original sense —e.g.: “Last week I moved house from London to Brighton but like a genuine spineless dastard I flatly denied its implications on personal relationships to the last. ” ( Times [London ]; Feb. 8, 1994.) Recent American dictionaries record one meaning of dastard as being “dishonorable, despicable ” or “treacherously underhanded. ” So the new meaning should probably now be considered standard. Like the noun form, the adjective dastardly has been subjected to slipshod extension. Although most dictionaries define it merely as “cowardly, ” it is now often used as if it meant “sneaky and underhanded; treacherous ”—e.g.: “He's b-a-a-a-c-k. Dastardly J. R. Ewing and his oft-manipulated clan rise from TV dustdom to air three times a day on TNN, Cable Channel 37, beginning Monday. ” ( Tulsa World; Sept. 27, 1996.).Usage notes show additional guidance on finer points of English usage.

 

Oxford Thesaurus

dastardly

dastardly adjective archaic or humorous a dastardly plan was hatched to kidnap him. See wicked (sense 1 ).

 

Sanseido Wisdom Dictionary

dastardly

das tard ly /dǽstə r dli /形容詞 ｟やや古 ｠卑怯 （ひきよう ）[卑劣 ]な .