Definition/Meaning of villain

• English - Noun: villain ( plural villains ) (Can we clean up (+) this sense?) (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): A vile , wicked person . An extremely depraved person , or one capable or guilty of great crimes . A deliberate scoundrel . The bad person in a work of fiction; often the main antagonist of the hero . July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias , AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [2]…
• English - Verb: villain ( third-person singular simple present villains , present participle villaining , simple past and past participle villained ) ( obsolete , transitive ) To debase; to degrade . (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir T . More to this entry?)
• English - Alternative forms: villan ( archaic )
• English - Etymology: Probably Middle English villein , from Old French villain (modern: vilain ), in turn from Late Latin villanus , meaning serf or peasant , someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin villa , which is to say , worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity , in Italy or Gaul .
• English - Pronunciation: IPA (key) : /vɪlən/ Rhymes: -ɪlən