wrap-rascal Now arch. or dial.
(ˈræprɑːskəl, -æ-)
[f. wrap v. + rascal n.3 Cf. hap-harlot.]
A loose overcoat or great-coat, esp. worn in the 18th century; a surtout.
| 1716 Gay Trivia i. 58 The true Surtout. marg., A Joseph, a Wrap-rascal, etc. 1738 in W. C. Sydney Eng. & Engl. 18th C. (1891) I. 121 Those loose kinds of great-coats..which I have heard called ‘wraprascals’. 1802 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 191 A sort of knave's coat; or (to use an appellative not many years ago applied in vulgar language to a particular sort of surtout) a wrap-rascal. 1845 Punch VIII. 87 The shapeless articles which, under the various names of Taglionis, Wrap-rascals,..are now placed on the human form. 1884 Sala Journ. due South i. i, Muffled up in these hirsute wrap-rascals, and with wide-awake hats slouched over our eyes. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xxv, On the threshold, in a rough wraprascal.., stood James More. |
| fig. 1812 J. O. in Examiner 23 Nov. 750/1 The specious cloak of Prudence,—that wraprascal of the worldy-minded. 1862 Thackeray Round. Papers, Letts's Diary, There is the cozy wraprascal, self-indulgence—how easy it is! |
| attrib. 1898 S. Weyman Castle Inn 192 A big dingy man in a wrap-rascal coat. |
† b. (See
quot.)
Obs.| 1796 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), Wrap Rascal, a red cloak, called also a roquelaire. |