bastard

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A child born out of wedlock.
2. n. Something that is of irregular, inferior, or dubious origin.
3. n. Slang A person, especially one who is held to be mean or disagreeable.
4. adj. Born of unwed parents; illegitimate.
5. adj. Not genuine; spurious: a bastard style of architecture.
6. adj. Resembling a known kind or species but not truly such.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A natural child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate or spurious child. By the civil and canon laws (a rule adopted also in many of the United States), a bastard becomes a legitimate child by the marriage of the parents at any future time. But by the laws of England a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage; it does not require that the child shall be begotten in wedlock, but it is indispensable that it should be born after marriage, no matter how short the time, the law presuming it to be the child of the husband. The only legal incapacity of a bastard is that he cannot be heir or next of kin to any one save his own issue. Inheritance from the mother is allowed in some jurisdictions. In England the maintenance of a bastard in the first instance devolves on the mother, while in Scotland it is a joint burden upon both parents. The mother is entitled to the custody of the child in preference to the father. In the United States the father may be compelled to provide support.
2. n. In sugar-refining: A large mold into which sugar is drained.
3. n. An impure, coarse brown sugar made from the refuse syrup of previous boilings.
4. n. An animal of inferior breed; a mongrel.
5. n. A kind of woolen cloth, probably of inferior quality, or of unusual width, or both.
6. n. A kind of war-vessel used in the middle ages, probably of unusual size.
7. n. In the seventeenth century, a small cannon, otherwise known as a bastard culverin (which see, under culverin).
8. n. A sweet Spanish wine resembling muscadel; any kind of sweetened wine.
9. n. In falconry, a kind of hawk.
10. n. A local name of Kemp's gulf-turtle, Thalassochelys (Colpochelys) kempi, of the Gulf of Mexico.
11. Begotten and born out of wedlock; illegitimate: as, a bastard child.
12. Mongrel; hybrid: as, a bastard brood.
13. Unauthorized; unrecognized: as, “bastard officers before God,”
14. Spurious; not genuine; false; supposititious; adulterate: as, “bastard hope,” ; “bastard honours,”
15. Having the appearance of being genuine; resembling in some degree: an epithet applied especially in botany, zoölogy, medicine, etc., to things which resemble, but are not identical with, the things named: as, bastard mahogany, bastard pimpernel, bastard caddis, bastard marble, bastard measles, etc. See phrases below. Also bastardly.
16. Of abnormal or irregular shape or size; of unusual make or proportions: applied to guns, ships, swords: as, bastard culverin, bastard galley, etc. See phrases.
17. A local English name (in Weymouth) of the variegated sole, Solea variegata.
18. To declare to be a bastard; stigmatize as a bastard; bastardize.

Wiktionary

1. n. A person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.
2. n. A mongrel. A biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties.
3. n. vulgar A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person. See asshole, sod.
4. n. A man, a fellow, a male friend.
5. n. informal A child that does not know his or her father.
6. n. informal Something extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.
7. n. A variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin, fake or counterfeit.
8. n. An intermediate-grade steel file; also : bastard file.
9. n. A sweet wine.
10. adj. of or like a bastard (illegitimate human descendant)
11. adj. of or like a bastard (bad person)
12. adj. of or like a mongrel, bastardized creature/cross
13. adj. of abnormal, irregular or otherwise inferior qualities (size, shape etc.)
14. adj. spurious, lacking genuinity of authenticity: counterfeit, fake
15. interj. rare, vulgar Exclamation of strong dismay or strong sense of being upset.
16. v. obsolete To bastardize.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A “natural” child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit union.
2. n. An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from the sirups that have already had several boilings.
3. n. A large size of mold, in which sugar is drained.
4. n. A sweet Spanish wine like muscatel in flavor.
5. n. A writing paper of a particular size. See Paper.
6. adj. Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate. See bastard, n., note.
7. adj. Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; -- applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not so.
8. adj. obsolete Of an unusual or irregular make or proportion.
9. adj. (Print.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
10. v. obsolete To bastardize.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin
2. n. the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents
3. n. insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous
4. adj. fraudulent; having a misleading appearance