[Fr.; orig. proper name, perh. containing -goth (cf. bigot) of uncertain origin: see Littré.] Name of an outcast race or caste in southern France; sometimes, like ‘pariah’ etc., applied to other outcasts.
1844. L. Costello, Béarn & Pyrenees, II. 262. At one period the Cagots were objects of hatred, from the belief that they were afflicted with the leprosy.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 104. Many a white man … ascribes powers of sorcery to despised outcast ‘races maudites,’ Gypsies and Cagots.
1883. T. Watts, New Hero, in Eng. Illust. Mag., Dec., 184/1. English cagots, pariahs, wretches convicted of the original sin of poverty.
