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Rascal - 5 dictionary results

ras⋅cal

  [ras-kuhl]
Use Rascal in a Sentence
–noun
1. a base, dishonest, or unscrupulous person.
2. a mischievous person or animal: That child is a real rascal.
Origin:
1300–50; ME rascaile, raskaille < OF rascaille rabble; perh. akin to rash 2

Related forms:
ras⋅cal⋅like, adjective

Synonyms:
1. rapscallion, scamp, villain, miscreant, scapegrace. See knave.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ras·cal   (rās'kəl)   
n.  
  1. One that is playfully mischievous.
  2. An unscrupulous, dishonest person; a scoundrel.
adj.   Archaic
Made up of, belonging to, or relating to the common people: "Nor shall the Rascal Rabble here have Peace" (John Dryden).

[Middle English rascaile, rabble, commoners, from Old French rascaille, probably from rasque, mud, from Vulgar Latin *rāsicāre, to scrape; see rash2.]
ras'cal·ly adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Rascal

Ras"cal\, n. [OE. rascaille rabble, probably from an OF. racaille, F. racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to F. racler to scrape, (assumed) LL. rasiculare, rasicare, fr. L. radere, rasum. See Rase, v.]

1. One of the rabble; a low, common sort of person or creature; collectively, the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean, ill-conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [Obs.]

He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal. --Wyclif (1 Kings [1 Samuel] vi. 19).

Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them [horns] as huge as the rascal. --Shak.

2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a scoundrel; a trickster.

For I have sense to serve my turn in store, And he's a rascal who pretends to more. --Dryden.

Rascal

Ras`cal\, a. Of or pertaining to the common herd or common people; low; mean; base. "The rascal many." --Spencer. "The rascal people." --Shak.

While she called me rascal fiddler. --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Rascal
Spanish: pillín, bribón,
German: der Schurke,
Japanese: いたずらっ子
More Translations »

rascal 
c.1330, rascaile "people of the lowest class, rabble of an army," from O.Fr. rascaille "outcast, rabble" (12c.), perhaps from rasque "mud, filth, scab, dregs," from V.L. *rasicare "to scrape" (see rash (n.)). The singular form is first attested 1461; extended sense of "low, dishonest person" is from early 1586.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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