desperado

[ des-puh-rah-doh, -rey- ]

/ ˌdɛs pəˈrɑ doʊ, -ˈreɪ- /

a bold, reckless criminal or outlaw, especially in the early days of the American West.

Origin of desperado

1600–10; probably pseudo-Spanish alteration of desperate (as noun, now obsolete), in same sense

Here, the acclaimed director of Desperado and Sin City offers up his top cult films.

‘Machete Kills’ Director Robert Rodriguez on His Favorite Cult Movies |Robert Rodriguez |October 8, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Rodriguez wrote a script that imagined Trejo, his thuggish muse in Desperado and Spy Kids, as a Mexican Charles Bronson.

'Mexploitation' at the Movies |Bryan Curtis |August 31, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
The desperado remembered that his horse stood hitched a quarter of a mile away.

When 'Bear Cat' Went Dry |Charles Neville Buck
There were circumstances, however, which kept away the rowdy and desperado element who usually make for a newly opened goldfield.

The Great Boer War |Arthur Conan Doyle

The impenetrable rocky region was behind them; the desperado and his band were ahead of them, in comparatively an open country.

Wigwam and War-path; Or the Royal Chief in Chains |A. B. (Alfred Benjamin) Meacham
So resourceful and crafty was this desperado that he evaded trap after trap laid for his capture.

Frontier Boys on the Coast |Capt. Wyn Roosevelt
A desperado, seeking to kill him, threw down on him as he was entering a saloon.

When the West Was Young |Frederick R. Bechdolt

desperado

/ (ˌdɛspəˈrɑːdəʊ) /

a reckless or desperate person, esp one ready to commit any violent illegal act

C17: probably pseudo-Spanish variant of obsolete desperate (n) a reckless character