In the Old Testament the rendering of the Hebrew word mamzer', which means "polluted." In Deuteronomy 23:2, it occurs in the ordinary sense of illegitimate offspring. In Zechariah 9:6, the word is used in the sense of foreigner. From the history of Jephthah we learn that there were bastard offspring among the Jews (Judges 11:1-7). In Hebrews 12:8, the word (Gr. nothoi) is used in its ordinary sense, and denotes those who do not share the privileges of God's children.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A natural child; a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit union.

2. (n.) An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from the syrups that / already had several boilings.

3. (n.) A large size of mold, in which sugar is drained.

4. (n.) A sweet Spanish wine like muscadel in flavor.

5. (n.) A writing paper of a particular size. See Paper.

6. (a.) Begotten and born out of lawful matrimony; illegitimate. See Bastard, n., note.

7. (n.) Lacking in genuineness; spurious; false; adulterate; -- applied to things which resemble those which are genuine, but are really not so.

8. (n.) of an unusual make or proportion; as, a bastard musket; a bastard culverin.

9. (n.) Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.

10. (v. t.) To bastardize.