DEFINITIONS

guttersnipe

[ guht-er-snahyp ]
/ ˈgʌt ərˌsnaɪp /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR guttersnipe ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person belonging to or characteristic of the lowest social group in a city.
a street urchin.

Content related to guttersnipe

What Makes Accents Appealing?What makes certain accents sexy and others harsh? “The RINE in SPINE fawls MINELY on tha PLINE!” In the song “The Rain in Spain” from the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (‘enry ‘iggins) pleads with Eliza Doolittle to say “Ay not I, O not Ow.” By the end of the song Eliza’s “AY-ing” and “O-ing” and pronouncing all her H’s. The guttersnipe is …
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Words related to guttersnipe

vagrant, derelict, beggar, urchin, orphan, waif, tramp, tatterdemalion, bum, vagabond, loafer, hobo, wastrel, gamin, scarecrow, down-and-out, bankrupt, dependent, suppliant, mendicant

Words nearby guttersnipe

gutter ball, gutter fracture, gutter press, gutter wound, guttering, guttersnipe, guttiform, guttle, guttural, gutturalize, gutturalized

Origin of guttersnipe

First recorded in 1855–60; gutter + snipe

OTHER WORDS FROM guttersnipe

gut·ter·snip·ish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for guttersnipe

British Dictionary definitions for guttersnipe

guttersnipe
/ (ˈɡʌtəˌsnaɪp) /

noun

a child who spends most of his time in the streets, esp in a slum area
a person regarded as having the behaviour, morals, etc, of one brought up in squalor

Derived forms of guttersnipe

guttersnipish, adjective

Word Origin for guttersnipe

C19: originally a name applied to the common snipe (the bird), then to a person who gathered refuse from gutters in city streets
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012