One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant. [In this sense written also villan, and villein.] If any of my ansectors was a tenant, and a servant, and held his lands as a villain to his lord, his posterity also must do so, though accidentally they become noble. Jer. Taylor.
A baseborn or clownish person; a boor. [R.] Pour the blood of the villain in one basin, and the blood of the gentleman in another, what difference shall there be proved Becon.
A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp. Like a villain with a smiling cheek. Shak. Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix. Pope.
Villainous. [R.] Shak.
To debase; to degrade. [Obs.] Sir T. More.
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