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riffraff

 - 3 dictionary results

riff⋅raff

  [rif-raf]
Use riffraff in a Sentence
–noun
1. people, or a group of people, regarded as disreputable or worthless: a pack of riffraff.
2. the lowest classes; rabble: the riffraff of the city.
3. trash; rubbish.
–adjective
4. worthless, disreputable, or trashy.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME rif and raf every particle, things of small value < OF rif et raf, formed on rifler to spoil (see rifle 2 ), raffler to ravage, snatch away
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To riffraff
riff·raff   (rĭf'rāf')   
n.  

  1. People regarded as disreputable or worthless.

  2. Rubbish; trash.


[Middle English riffe raffe, from rif and raf, one and all, from Anglo-Norman rif et raf, rifle et rafle : Old French rifler, to rifle; see rifle2 + Old French raffler, to carry off (from raffle, act of seizing; see raffle1).]
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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Word Origin & History

riffraff 
c.1470, from earlier rif and raf "one and all, every scrap" (1338), from O.Fr. rif et raf, from rifler "to spoil, strip" (see rifle (v.)) and raffler "carry off," related to rafle "plundering" (see raffle).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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