rascal - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Recorded since c.1330, as Middle English rascaile (“people of the lowest class, rabble of an army”), derived from 12th century Old French rascaille (“outcast, rabble”) (modern French racaille), perhaps from rasque (“mud, filth, scab, dregs”), from Vulgar Latin *rasicō (“to scrape”). The singular form is first attested in 1461; the present extended sense of "low, dishonest person" is from early 1586.

rascal (plural rascals)

  1. A dishonest person; a rogue, a scoundrel, a trickster.
    • 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
      _Tuc_[_ca_]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / _Hiſt_[_rio_]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]
  2. (often diminutively) A cheeky person or creature; a troublemaker.
    That little rascal bit me!
    If you have deer in the area, you may have to put a fence around your garden to keep the rascals out.
  3. (Papua New Guinea) A member of a criminal gang.

dishonest person

cheeky person

rascal (comparative more rascal, superlative most rascal)

  1. (archaic) Low; lowly, part of or belonging to the common rabble.

part of the common rabble

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