Dastardly

Dastardly is an adjective used to describe some thing or some one as cowardly and malicious. It comes from the word dastard a noun meaning a sneaky, malicious coward. These words hardly come to mind when describing some one, but I have found them slipping into my vocabulary from viewing classic cinema. Every time I think of the word dastardly, an image of a silhouette of a man with a curled up mustache and top hat or the Hanna-Barbera character Dick Dastardly.