scamp
[skamp]
noun
an unscrupulous and often mischievous person; rascal; rogue; scalawag.
a playful, mischievous, or naughty young person; upstart.
a grouper, Mycteroperca phenax, of Florida: so called from its habit of stealing bait.
verb (used with object)
to do or perform in a hasty or careless manner: to scamp work.
Origin of scamp
1775–85; obsolete scamp to travel about idly or for mischief, perhaps < obsolete Dutch schampen to be gone < Old French escamper to decamp
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for scamp
liar, cheat, ruffian, villain, troublemaker, delinquent, mischief-maker, scoundrel, reprobate, hooligan, sneak, rogue, scalawag, shyster, fraud, trickster, rowdy, swindler, cheater, pranksterExamples from the Web for scamp
Contemporary Examples of scamp
Fortnum is well behaved, but Mason appears to be a little more of a scamp.
Historical Examples of scamp
Go to your bedroom; and if you turn out a good-for-nothing and a scamp, it is no fault of mine.
Rico and WiseliJohanna Spyri
I was a scamp—but a frolicsome scamp—and that is always a popular character.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
She could only trust to his being a scamp as her only hope of escape.
He ought to have played the scamp; he should have acted in concert with the Rougons.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
"I'm looking for that scamp of a Marjolin," replied the artist.
The Fat and the ThinEmile Zola
scamp
1noun
Word Origin for scamp
C18: from scamp (vb) to be a highway robber, probably from Middle Dutch schampen to decamp, from Old French escamper, from es- ex- 1 + -camper, from Latin campus field
scamp
2verb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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