scapegrace
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From scape (“(archaic) escape”) + grace (“grace of god”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
scapegrace (plural scapegraces)
- A wild and reckless person (especially a boy); a scoundrel.
- 1859, George Meredith, chapter 4, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
- He is now laden with that superabundant energy which makes a fool of a man, and a scapegrace of a boy, and he wants to work it off.
- 2002, Jonathan Shay, Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming:
- An infantry officer in the trenches, Graves wrote of his rocky and scapegrace return to civilian life: "I still had the Army Habit of commandeering anything of uncertain ownership that I found lying about; also a difficulty in telling the truth--it was always easier for me now, when charged with any fault, to lie my way out in Army style."
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:scapegrace.
Synonyms[edit]
- black sheep, rascal, rogue; see also Thesaurus:villain