losel

American  

[loh-zuhl, loo-, loz-uhl] / ˈloʊ zəl, ˈlu-, ˈlɒz əl /

noun

1. a worthless person; scoundrel.

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adjective

1. worthless or useless.

losel British  

/ ˈləʊzəl /

noun

1. a worthless person

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adjective

1. (of a person) worthless, useless, or wasteful

Etymology

Origin of losel

1325–75; Middle English: literally, one who is lost, equivalent to los- (past participle stem of lose ) + -el -le

Example Sentences

In the first canto there are a few archaisms; words like fere, shent, and losel occur, together with Gothic properties, such as the "eremite's sad cell" and "Paynim shores" and Newstead's "monastic dome."

From A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

I take it not ill, like the Tinker If a trickster had foundered his muck-sled; For he loves not rough travelling, the losel, And loath would he be of this uproar.

From The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald by Collingwood, W. G. (William Gershom)

What more could you do, had he bestowed her upon a churl, a losel or a slave?

From The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Payne, John

Wasn't that "lewd losel" told by the Kentish Archbishop how useful such music might be say if a pilgrim struck his toe on a stone?'

From Cinderella in the South Twenty-Five South African Tales by Cripps, Arthur Shearly

Come life or death, 'tis still the same, So we preserve our stainless name From losel of the coward's shame.

From The Felon's Track History Of The Attempted Outbreak In Ireland, Embracing The Leading Events In The Irish Struggle From The Year 1843 To The Close Of 1848 by Doheny, Michael