Also 8 Sc. ladren, laydron, latherin, 7, 9 ladron, 9 lath(e)ron. [a. early OF. ladron (see LAROUN):—L. latrōn-em robber. In mod. use ad. Sp. ladron:—L. latrōn-em.]
1. Sc. (Stressed la·dron.) Used as a vague term of reproach: Rogue, blackguard.
a. 1557. Lyndesay, in Pinkerton’s Sc. Poems (1792), II. 8. Quhair hes thow bene, fals ladrone lown?
1706. J. Watson’s Collect. Poems, I. 11. But when Indemnity came down, The Laydron caught me by the Thraple.
1718. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., III. xv. Whisht, ladren.
1789. D. Davidson, Seasons, 90. Maggy wha fu’ well did ken, The lurking Latherin’s meaning.
1887. Service, Dr. Duguid, III. vi. 283. Guidsaffs! thou impiddent latheron.
attrib. 1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxiv. 159. She … would not let me … mess or mell wi’ the lathron lasses of the clachan.
2. Used occas. in books on Spain or Spanish America for: A highwayman. Also attrib. (see quot. 1867).
[1626. Shirley, Brothers, V. iii. (1652), 62. Ped. I am become the talk Of every Picaro and Ladron.]
1832. W. Irving, Alhambra, I. 17. With the protection of our redoubtable Squire, Sancho, we were not afraid of all the ladrones of Andalusia.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., ix. 74. There are other ladrones besides the Indians.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Ladrone ship, literally a pirate, but it is the usual epithet applied by the Chinese to a man-of-war.
1883. Ld. Saltoun, Scraps, I. ii. 189. They would have been bold ladrones that molested any travellers conducted by him.
