‖ ˈpicaro Now arch.
[Sp. picaro roguish, knavish, a rogue, knave, sharper = It. ˈpiccaro rascal, beggar: of doubtful etymology; perh. related to Sp. picar, It. piccare to prick: cf. It. piccante sharp. See Diez s.v. Picco.]
A rogue, knave, vagabond.
| 1623 Middleton Span. Gipsy ii. i. (1653) C ij, Basenes! the arts of Cocoquismo, and Germania us'd by our Spanish Pickeroes (I meane Filching, Foysting, Niming, Jilting. c 1626 Dick of Devon. i. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 12 That word heard By any lowsy Spanish Picardo [sic] Were worth our two neckes. 1626 Shirley Brothers v. iii. (1652) 62, I am become the talk Of every Picaro and Ladron. 1719 D'Urfey Pills II. 227 Poets, Pimps, Prentices, and poor Piacros [sic]. 1749 Smollett tr. Le Sage's Gil Blas IV. x. xii. 115 If Scipio in his childhood was a real Picaro, he has corrected his conduct so well since that time, that he is now the model of a perfect servant. 1966 New Statesman 21 Jan. 96/2 The rude and cynical picaro, the philandering gambling tailor or tailoring gambler, finds himself so deeply fascinated by a wealthy young American college girl that he puts on a black roll-neck jersey, poses as a writer, and hopefully takes her to Italy. 1972 M. Bradbury in Cox & Dyson 20th-Cent. Mind III. xii. 343 Jack Donaghue in [Iris Murdoch's] Under the Net may seem a typical fifties picaro; but he is a novelist, facing the problem of the possible collapse into contingency of language and the fascinations of silence. 1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 May 605/2 Picaresque grants an author licence to switch his tones about as the picaro speeds from adventure to adventure. |