Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Desperate

Desperate , adjective

[Latin desperatus, past participle of desperare. See Despair, and compare Desperado.]

1.
Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [Obsolete]
I am desperate of obtaining her. — Shakespeare
2.
Beyond hope; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune.
3.
Proceeding from, or suggested by, despair; without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious; as, a desperate effort.
Desperate expedients. — Macaulay
4.
Extreme, in a bad sense; outrageous; -- used to mark the extreme predominance of a bad quality.
A desperate offendress against nature. — Shakespeare
The most desperate of reprobates. — Macaulay

Desperate , noun

One desperate or hopeless. [Obsolete]