ragman1
(ˈrægmən)
Also (sense 1) 4 raggeman, rageman, -mon, 6 Sc. ragmen.
[f. rag n.1 + man.]
† 1. A name given to the Devil, or one of the devils. (Cf. ragamuffin 1, ragged a.1 1 b, and Sw. Ragg-en). Obs. rare.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 89 Go robbe that raggeman and reue the fruit fro hym. 1393 Ibid. C. xix. 122 To ransake that rageman and reue hym hus apples. 15.. in Bannatyne MS. 76 [Christ] that ransonit ws vpoun the rude Fra ruffy ragmen and his route. Ibid. 302 Ruffy Ragmen with his taggis Sall ryfe thair sinfull saule in raggis. |
† 2. A ragged person. Obs. rare—0.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 421/2 Ragmann, or he that goythe wythe iaggyd [v.r. raggyd] clothys, pannicius. |
3. a. A rag-gatherer, rag-dealer.
| 1586 Day Eng. Secretary (1625) 110 He is become a sworne brother of the rag-mans number. 1660 Burney κέρδ. Δῶρον (1661) 99 They were too base to make Gunpowder on, and below the Market of a Ragman. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §2 He sets the Paper-mills at work, by which the poor Rag-man is supported. 1763 T. Price Life B. M. Carew 217 Happening to meet with a brother ragman..they joined company. 1833 Boston Herald 19 Mar. 4/4 The ragman came up, and began to call me about the cards. 1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 24 De ragman, the old-clothes man. 1976 New Yorker 23 Feb. 39/2 The street down which will sometimes come, on his rattling wagon, a ragman. |
b. Contemptuously, a banker. (Cf. rag n.1 3.)
| 1821 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 18 [Tax collectors] will receive the country rags, if the rag-man can find, and will give security for the due payment of his rags. |
4. [See rag n.5] A musician who plays ragtime music.
| 1938 J. R. Morton in Downbeat Sept. 4/1 Blues players who could play nothing else... What we call ‘ragmen’ in New Orleans. 1950 Blesh & Janis They all played Ragtime (1958) vi. 108 Following 1907–8 there comes a second generation of ragmen. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 96 Ragmen, jazzmen who play that type of music. |