rapscallion
English
Etymology
From an alteration of rascallion, a fanciful elaboration of rascal (someone who is naughty).
Pronunciation
Noun
rapscallion (plural rapscallions)
- A rascal, scamp, rogue, or scoundrel.
- 1901, Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford, The Inheritors, ch. 3:
- She was the sister who had remained within the pale; I, the rapscallion of a brother whose vagaries were trying to his relations.
- 1901, Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford, The Inheritors, ch. 3:
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:villain
Translations
rascal
Adjective
rapscallion (comparative more rapscallion, superlative most rapscallion)
- Disreputable, roguish.
- 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Miss Stanbury’s Generosity”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 93:
- [H]e is dressed in such a rapscallion manner that the people would think you were talking to a house-breaker.
- 1895, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 23, The Carbonels:
- "I baint a-going to give my master's property to a lot of rapscallion thieves and robbers like you."