lazzarone

English

Etymology

From Italian lazzarone.

Noun

lazzarone (plural lazzarones or lazzaroni)

1. One of the poorer classes of Neapolitans; beggars.
   • 1903, Henry James, The Beast in the Jungle:

     Marcher said to himself that he ought to have rendered her some service - saved her from a capsized boat in the bay, or at least recovered her dressing bag, filched from her cab, in the streets of Naples, by a lazzarone with a stiletto.

2. Playboy, someone who does not work and devotes himself to a life without commitments or responsibilities.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Chapter 22:

     Brighton, a clean Naples with genteel lazzaroni […]

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Italian

Noun

lazzarone m (plural lazzaroni)

1. scoundrel, rogue
2. (obsolete) leper