Ragamuffin

From Fresh Dictionary

English

Etymology

From the Middle English Ragamuffyn.

Noun

ragamuffin

1. A dirty, shabbily-clothed child; an urchin.
2. (According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable): A muffin is a poor thing of a creature, a 'regular muff'; so that a ragamuffin is a sorry creature in rags.

   "I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered." Shakespeare: I Henry IV, v, 3.

   Usage note: Currently this word is slang, used either for anachronistic effect or as dialogue in historical fiction.

fr:ragamuffin