ragamuffin

[ rag-uh-muhf-in ]

/ ˈræg əˌmʌf ɪn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ragamuffin ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a ragged, disreputable person; tatterdemalion.

a child in ragged, ill-fitting, dirty clothes.

Nearby words

rag rug, rag trade, rag-and-bone man, rag-rolling, raga, ragamuffin, ragbag, ragbolt, ragdoll, rage, rage quit

Origin of ragamuffin

1350–1400; Middle English Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman

SYNONYMS FOR ragamuffin

2 waif, urchin, guttersnipe, street arab.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ragamuffin ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ragamuffin

"You'll not be thinking of heeding that ragamuffin boy," he ventured.
Huntingtower|John Buchan
Multitudes of old women and ragamuffin boys assailed us on all sides.
Paris and the Parisians in 1835 (Vol. 2 of 2)|Frances Trollope
When the English fleet came back in July Champlain had a ragamuffin, half-starved retinue of precisely sixteen men.
Canada: the Empire of the North|Agnes C. Laut
No ragamuffin was ever so tattered and torn as this rakish individual.
Truxton King|George Barr McCutcheon

The guard at the Porta San Zuan let them go unheeded; one ragamuffin more or less made no odds.
Little Novels of Italy|Maurice Henry Hewlett

British Dictionary definitions for ragamuffin

ragamuffin

/ (ˈræɡəˌmʌfɪn) /

noun

a ragged unkempt person, esp a child

another name for ragga

Word Origin for ragamuffin

C14 Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman (1393); probably based on rag 1

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