Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A shabbily clothed, dirty child.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The name of a demon.
- noun An idle, worthless fellow; a vagabond; now, especially, a disreputably ragged or slovenly person: formerly used as a general term of reprehension.
- noun A titmouse: same as
mufflin . - Base; beggarly; ragged or disorderly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A paltry or disreputable fellow; a mean wretch.
- noun colloq. A person who wears ragged clothing.
- noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The long-tailed titmouse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
dirty ,shabbily -clothed child ; anurchin . - noun A breed of domestic cat which is an offshoot from the Ragdoll.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a dirty shabbily clothed urchin
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But be quick, now, and play up, or I 'll drive that ragamuffin from the church grounds in disgrace and by force!
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The word ragamuffin, "he adds, with characteristic determination to be exact,
Hawthorne and His Circle Julian Hawthorne 1890
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She approached the girl, who Ziman says looked like a "ragamuffin" with dreadlocks and a caked face.
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She approached the girl, who Ziman says looked like a "ragamuffin" with dreadlocks and a caked face.
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Rico, whose real name is Salvatore Aloisi, is a dance-hall "ragamuffin," a reggae-style "toaster" or "chatter," spinning intricate rhymes over bass-heavy rhythms.
Toasting The 'Hood 2008
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"The 'ragamuffin' always speaks of his enemies with courtesy, and the filibusters love their leader," was her pointed rejoinder.
The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897
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"The 'ragamuffin' always speaks of his enemies with courtesy, and the filibusters love their leader," was her pointed rejoinder.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete Gilbert Parker 1897
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"The 'ragamuffin' always speaks of his enemies with courtesy, and the filibusters love their leader," was her pointed rejoinder.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Volume 3. Gilbert Parker 1897
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Then he is known as the "ragamuffin," on account of his covering of rags.
La mare au diable. English George Sand 1840
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The word "ragamuffin," which I have used above, does not accurately express the man, because there is a sort of shadow or delusion of respectability about him, and a sobriety too, and a kind of decency in his groggy and red-nosed destitution.
Passages from the American Notebooks, Volume 2. Nathaniel Hawthorne 1834
sakhalinskii commented on the word ragamuffin
An aspiring rudeboy.
July 30, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word ragamuffin
"I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered: there's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive, and they are for the town's end, to beg during life."
Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I,iv. iii. Line 36
September 24, 2009
ruzuzu commented on the word ragamuffin
I've heard ragamuffins are more melodic than fufluns.
October 17, 2011