banditti

From Italian banditi, plural of bandito.

banditti pl (normally plural, singular bandit or banditto) or banditti (plural bandittis)

1. (archaic) Robbers or outlaws.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “The Adventure of a Company of Soldiers”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume III, London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book VII, page 85:

     [T]his was the very Time when the late Rebellion was at the higheſt; and indeed the Banditti were now marched into England, […]

   • 1807, , chapter I, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. , volume I, London: J F Hughes, , →OCLC, page 13:

     Carlstadt silently trod the strange steps of the wandering Holstein; […] he felt a repugnance at passing through a place most suitably fitted to the depredations of an hardened banditti, and calculated to inspire thought of the most terrific formation.

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Sense and Sensibility , volume I, London: C Roworth, , and published by T Egerton, , →OCLC, page 228:

     I have more pleasure in a snug farm-house than a watch-tower—and a troop of tidy, happy villagers please me better than the finest banditti in the world.

   • 1855, Ferdinand Gregorovius, translated by Russell Martineau, “Bandit Life”, in Corsica in Its Picturesque, Social, and Historical Aspects: The Record of a Tour in the Summer of 1852, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 144:

     The history of the Corsican banditti is rich in heroic, demon-like, and chivalrous traits of character. The people sing bandit dirges throughout the whole country; […] There was with him also a bandit, Brusco, to whom he had sworn eternal friendship, and his uncle Augellone. The latter name signifies Evil Bird, for it is the custom for banditti to give themselves nicknames when they begin to play their part in the Macchia.

• bandit in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.

  “noun plural BAN'DITS or BANDIT'TI”.