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scallywag

 - 5 dictionary results

scal⋅ly⋅wag

  [skal-ee-wag]
Use scallywag in a Sentence
–noun
scalawag.

scal⋅a⋅wag

  [skal-uh-wag]
–noun
1. a scamp; rascal.
2. U.S. History. a native white Southerner who collaborated with the occupying forces during Reconstruction, often for personal gain.
Also, scallywag; especially British, scallawag.

Origin:
1840–50, Americanism; orig. uncert.

Related forms:
scal⋅a⋅wag⋅ger⋅y, noun
scal⋅a⋅wag⋅gy, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To scallywag
scal·a·wag   (skāl'ə-wāg')   
n.  

  1. Informal A reprobate; a rascal.

  2. A white Southerner working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction.


[Origin unknown.]
scal·ly·wag   (skāl'ē-wāg')   
n.  Variant of scalawag.
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

scalawag 
"disreputable fellow," 1848, Amer.Eng., originally in trade union jargon, of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Scottish scallag "farm servant, rustic" (by influence of wag "habitual joker"). An early recorded sense was "undersized or worthless animal" (1854), which suggests an alteration of Scalloway, one of the Shetland Islands, in allusion to little Shetland ponies. In U.S. history, used from 1862 of anti-Confederate native white Southerners.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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