desperado

Meanings

1. A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.
2. A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, an addict, etc.
3. A person who is desperately in love or is desperate for a romantic or sexual relationship.
4. A piece that seems determined to give itself up, typically to bring about stalemate or perpetual check.

Etymology

From obsolete Spanish desperado, past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”), from Latin disperare (“to despair, to lose hope”), from prefix dis- + sperare (“to hope”). Doublet of desperate.