scatterling

English

Etymology

scatter +‎ -ling

Noun

scatterling (plural scatterlings)

1. (obsolete) One who has no fixed residence; a vagabond.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagabond

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto X, page 63:

     Long time in peace his realm establishd, / Yet oft annoyd with sundry bordragings / Of neighbour Scots, and forrein scatterlings.

   • 1839, Benjamin Disraeli, The Tragedy of Count Alarcos, published 1910, page 388:

     But ah! her fatal vengeance Struck to my heart. A banished scatterling I wandered on the earth.

   • 1986, Paul Simon (lyrics and music), “You Can Call Me Al”, in Graceland:

     He is surrounded by the sound, the sound / Cattle in the marketplace / Scatterlings and orphanages

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “scatterling” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams

• clatterings