Desperado

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dÉ›spəˈɹɑːdəʊ/

Origin

From Spanish desesperado, past participle of desesperar ("to despair"), from Latin disperare ("to despair, to lose hope"), from prefix dis- + sperare ("to hope").

Full definition of desperado

Noun

1. A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.
• 1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The present timeThe kind of persons who excite or give signal to — 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.
• 1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, Mirado Modern Classics, paperback edition, page 6Surely this was the face of a desperado.
2. (chess) A piece that seems determined to give itself up, typically to bring about stalemate or perpetual check.