beccamorto

This is how the person that defined baccamorte should have spelled the word. This is usually a result of hearing a word pronounced by a person that has no business talking Italian. In any case, a beccamorto was a person during the middle ages that used to inflict pain, via a forceful bite to the finger or toe of a presumed deceaded person to ascertain whether or not they were indeed dead. This during the middleages when the life span of man was around 40-45 year and sanitation almost non-existant. In short, "becca" = to beak, that is, to bite and "morto" = dead. To beak the dead (to find out whether they're really dead following a forceful bite to a finger or toe.) Use beccamorto to describe someone that does not take care of their own appearance, holds a dubious role in society, looks like a stunned mullet, et cetera et cetera