ragamuffin
/ˈɹæɡəˌmʌfɪn/ noun
Forms ragamuffins raggamuffin
- noun A dirty, shabbily-clothed child; an urchin.
- noun (slang) A hooligan or troublemaker.
- noun A domestic cat of a particular heavy, muscular, short-necked breed.
Synonyms
Etymology
From the Middle English Ragamuffyn. Of uncertain origin, according to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: A muffin is a poor thing of a creature, a ‘regular muff’; so that a ragamuffin is a sorry creature in rags.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A paltry or disreputable fellow; a mean which. Dryden.
- noun A person who wears ragged clothing. [Colloq.]
Etymology [Cf. Ragamofin, the name of a demon in some of the old mysteries.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ragamuffin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details