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Rascal

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Originally applied in the chase to a lean, worthless deer, then a collective term for the commonalty, the mob; and popularly to a base fellow. Shakespeare says, “Horns! the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal” [deer]. Palsgrave calls a starveling animal, like the lean kine of Pharaoh, “a rascall refus beest” (1530). The French have racaille (riff-raff).

“Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.”—Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., v. 4.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Rap
Rape
Rape of the Lock
Raphael
Raphael of Cats (The)
Rapparee
Rappee
Rara Avis (Latin, a rare bird)
Rare Ben
Raree Show
Rascal
Rascal Counters
Rasher
Rashleigh Osbaldistone
Rasiel
Raspberry
Rasselas
Rat
Rat (To)
Rat (Un)
Rat, Cat, and Dog