▪ I. rascal, n. and a.
(ˈrɑːskəl, -æ-)
Forms: 4–5 raskayl, (4 -kail(l)e, -kayle, -keyl, 5 -kell), 5–7 raskall, 6–7 -kal, (7 -kale); 4–6 rascaile, (4 rescail(l)e, 4–5 rascayl(e, -caille (9), -caly(e), 5–8 rascall, (6 -kcal, -scal, -cald, -cold(e, 6–7 -chal, 7 -cole, 9 dial. rascat, -cot), 5– rascal.
[a. OF. rascaille, -caile, rescaille (12th c.; mod.F. racaille), of uncertain origin.]
A. n.
† 1. collect. The rabble of an army or of the populace; common soldiers or camp-followers; persons of the lowest class. Obs. exc. arch.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 276 Þe route of rascaile, Tille armes gan drawe, & dight þam to bataile. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2882 The raskaille was rade, and rane to þe grefes. 1415 Hoccleve To Sir J. Oldcastle 391 Yee broken meynee, yee wrecchid rascaille. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. 703 It is nat convenyent that such raskall..sholde be suffred to rule a countrey. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius F f iv, Such, as sometime were the rascal of al their citie, and then the refuse of al the outlawes. 1570 Levins Manip. 13/12 Y⊇ Rascall, vulgus. [1819 Scott Ivanhoe xl, A score of such rascaille..whom one good knight could drive before him.] |
† b. A rabble or mob. Obs. rare.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1536 Þat raskayl [var. rescaile] to þe schip al ȝod. c 1470 Hors Shepe & G. (Caxton 1479, Roxb. repr.) 32 A raskall of boyes. A rafull of knaues. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 412/1 Bothe Luther and he..and all the rable of that rascaile, neuer cease to say this. |
† c. Rubbish, refuse. (So F. racaille.) Obs.—0
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 424/1 Rascaly, or refuse, where of hyt be,..caducum. |
† 2. One belonging to the rabble or common herd; a man of low birth or station. Obs.
| 1461–83 Househ. Ord. (1790) 66 That the rascals and hangers upon thys courte be sought oute and avoyded from every offyce monethly. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 326 The personys whiche entendyd this conspiracy, were but of the rascallys of the cytie. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst., Table of Script. Quot., Hee..made priests of the rascals of the people. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie 123 Mean conquest is it, base rascolds to subdue. 1674 Brevint Saul at Endor 304 Catholics may look on us all, like so many poor Raskals, who have none of these Jewels. |
† b. A camp-follower. Obs. rare.
| 1552 Edw. VI Jrnl. in Lit. Rem. (Roxb.) II. 420 About 20,000 footmen, and 8000 horsmen, wel appointed, besides rascalles. 1571 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 28 They placed their rascals on their jades, nagges, and labouring garrons. |
3. A low, mean, unprincipled or dishonest fellow; a rogue, knave, scamp.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary (1625) 44 There was no rake⁓hell, no ruffian, no knaue, no villaine, no cogging raskall,..but his hand was in with him. 1649 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) I. 154 This rascall spake worse then they and more contemptuously of our late blessed king. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 311/2 The Whip..is a Punishment inflicted upon all Vagabonds, Wandering Beggars and Idle Rascals. 1709 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 197 That the 39 Articles..is cut out of y{supt} Book by some Rascal. 1793 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 20 The agents of the two people are either great bunglers or great rascals. 1859 W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 58 Shifty Dick and the other rascal had been caught, and were in prison. |
b. Used without serious implication of bad qualities, or as a mild term of reproof.
| c 1610 Cooke Greene's Tu Quoque A 3 Sweet Rascal! if your love bee as earnest as your protestation, you will meete me this night at supper. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 34 A set of these Rascals..in a Week's time with this Load shall run down their choicest Horses. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 493 ¶3, I live in Taverns; he is an orderly sober Rascal. 1899 W. E. Norris Giles Ingilby iv, You are a lucky rascal, and I wish..I were in your shoes. |
c. Applied to a woman or girl. rare.
| 1624 Fletcher Rule a Wife v. iv, Why, how dar'st thou [Estifania] meet me again, thou rebel,..thou rascal. 1899 H. Clifford in Blackw. Mag. No. 1000. 319 What a clear colour that girl had..What a lissom rascal it was! |
† 4. collect. The young, lean, or inferior deer of a herd, distinguished from the full-grown antlered bucks or stags. Obs.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 129 So whanne ȝoure hauntelere dere were all ytakyn, Was non of the rasskayle aredy ffull growe. c 1474 in Christ Church Lett. (Camden) 26 For lak of dier it [hunting] must be forboren unto the tyme that more Raskell may grow. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 73 In Januarie they leave hearding with rascal and accompany themselves three or foure hartes together. 1607 J. Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 114 What Deere hath the Lord of this Mannor in his Parke, red and fallow; how many of Antler, and how many rascall. |
† b. A deer of this kind. Obs.
| 1522 Warrant in Jeayes Catal. Berkeley Charters (1892) 206 All the male dear and all other Rasscalls except the Hyndes. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 91 The Bucks and lusty Stags amongst the Rascalls strew'd. |
| fig. 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. iii. i, A new park is a-making there to sever Cuckolds of antler from the rascals. |
c. Similarly applied to other animals.
| 1530 Palsgr. 260/2 Rascall, refuse beest, refus. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs 42 Some be called fine dogs, some course, other some mungrels or rascalls. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 126 b, When you perceiue y{supt} she is Horsing, away with the raskal, and put to your stallion. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Rascal, a lean animal. |
5. Comb., as rascal-like adj.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 383 His opprobrious speaches, and rascallike raylinges. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 49 If we be English Deere, be then in blood, Not Rascall-like to fall downe with a pinch. |
B. adj.
1. Belonging to, or forming, the rabble: cf. A. 1. (Common c 1530–1650, esp. in rascal people or rascal sort.) Also rarely, rascally, knavish.
| c 1430 Life St. Kath. (Gibbs MS.) 81 O how blessed schal I þan be whan þe folye of þe rascayl puple schal worschepe me. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark i. 11 He that purifieth al thinges, came as one of the raskall sort. 1581 Savile Tacitus, Hist. i. xxx, Yet for your own interest prouide, that the raskallest sort be no Emperour-makers. 1667 Poole Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735) 93 Those Corporal Pains, which the Rascal-Herd must suffer without Bail or Main-prise. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 579 Nor shall the Rascal Rabble here have Peace. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxvii, We shall have need of their aid to-day before yon rascal rout disband. Ibid. Marshalling the farther troop of the rascaille yeomen. 1878 Tennyson Q. Mary ii. ii, To..yield Full scope to persons rascal and forlorn. |
† b. Common, private (soldiers). Obs.
| 1578 Golding Justin xiii. 74 Ptolomy, whome Alexander for his manhode and valiauntnesse had promoted from a raskal [1570 common] souldioure. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 169 Achab..would not be knowne to be the king, but bee counted a rascall souldier. |
c. Pertaining or appropriate to († the rabble, or) rascals. = rascally 3.
| 1566 T. Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewel iii. 121 No sadde writinge, but a rascal wrangling. 1618 Wither Motto, Nec cares in Juvenilia (1633) 531 The Rascall humours of the vaine And giddy multitude. 1867 Howells Ital. Journ. 162 In the rascal streets in the neighborhood. 1894 F. S. Ellis Reynard Fox 203 A holy life I'm always choosing, But rascal ways find more amusing. |
† 2. Wretched, mean, etc. = rascally 4. Obs.
| 1585 Golding Pomponius Mela (1590) 54 It is but a rascall bancke all stonie. 1612 T. James Corrupt. Scripture i. 55 Such rude, rascall and foolish stuffe, in steed of manie learned Treatises. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1685) 652 The streight and rascal Dyet of that Town in Lent. 1748 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 211 On what rascal foundations were built all the pretences to virtue which were set up in opposition to him. |
† 3. Of deer: (see A. 4). Also fig. Obs.
| 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. 882, I causd the Keeper to seuer the rascall Deere, from the Buckes of the first head. 1653 Walton Angler i. 15 How will a right Greyhound fix his eye on the best Buck in a herd..and follow him and him only through a whole herd of rascal game. 1664 G. Etherege Comical Revenge v. iii, Lest some old woodman drop in by chance and discover thou art but a rascal deer. |
† b. Similarly of other animals (cf. A. 4 c). Obs.
| 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs 34 Curres of the Mungrell and Rascall sort. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 185 Laying some raschal sheep or goat for a bait. |
† c. Applied to all beasts other than those of chase. Obs. rare. (Perh. intended as n.)
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans E j, Other beestys all, Where so ye hem fynde Rascall ye shall hem call. |
Add: [3.] d. In Papua New Guinea: a member of a criminal gang; a thief or hooligan.
| 1985 Telegraph (Brisbane) 20 June 17/1 (heading) Armed ‘Rascal’ gangs terrorise PNG's capital. 1985 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 24 June 3/3 Seven ‘rascals’—the PNG term for the gangsters who infest the national capital and caused the PNG Government to declare a state of emergency and a nightly curfew 10 days ago—took part in the attack. 1986 New Yorker 12 May 59/1 The Port Moresby police refer to robbers and burglars as ‘rascals’. 1988 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 27 Sept. 8/7 The attackers were what in Papua New Guinea are described as ‘rascals’, criminal gangs who operate in urban areas and whose services can be hired. |
▪ II. † ˈrascal, v. Obs.
[f. the n.]
trans. To call (one) rascal.
| 1598 T. M. Seruingmans Comf. (1868) 162 What cares a Gentleman now adayes to knaue and rascall his Man at euery worde? 1683 T. Hunt Def. Charter Lond. 25 The Poet hath undertaken for their being kicked..about the Stage to the Gallows, infamously rogued and rascalled. |