desp'rate

But all agree that they're just desp'rate chara'ters all round.

Kiddie the Scout Robert Leighton

I kep 'a stiff upper-lip, an' he grew desp'rate, an 'tuk all sorts uv dangerous jobs, blastin' rocks an 'haulin' stuns.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 40, February, 1861 Various

Till that desp'rate man, with quick low sob, his weapon tossed away,

The Poetical Works of Mrs. Leprohon

Why then should authors mourn their desp'rate case?

Life And Letters Of John Gay (1685-1732) Melville, Lewis 1921

"He's desp'rate, and he'll fight; that's what I want -- somebody that won't blench at anything when the time comes."

The Silver Horde Rex Ellingwood Beach 1913

There will be desp'rate work doing to-night, if what they say is true, sir.

Sonnie-Boy's People 1912

That wa'n't excitin 'enough to lure me from a steady job for long, though, unless some one was goin' to do more'n look desp'rate and talk spiteful.

Torchy Sewell Ford 1907

He'd worried himself near sick, worked himself up desp'rate, and had finished by doin 'something that stood to get him put away for ten or fifteen years -- all for forty bucks!

Torchy Sewell Ford 1907

He makes a desp'rate duck and tries to butt me; but I catches his head under my arm and down he goes on the rug.

Torchy Sewell Ford 1907

She got so desp'rate she rowed ashore all by herself.

Torchy Sewell Ford 1907