Dictionary

scalawag en · NOUN

Etymology

Of obscure origin, perhaps from the name of the Shetland village of Scalloway (from Old Norse Skálavágr), known for its dwarf ponies and dwarf cattle.

Meanings

1. (derogatory) A disreputable fellow, a good-for-nothing, a scapegrace, a blackguard.
   • Calvin: "I'm very very sorry that I took your precious flaaggg!" Hobbes: "Just don't do it any more, you scurvy scalawaaggg!" 1990 May 27, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes:
2. (informal) A badly behaved person, especially a child; a mischief-maker; a rascal.
   • “This ruckus never seems to end.” (Colin laughing) “He's very loud, and unlike us, he does not sleep during the day.” “Nor does he sleep during the night.” “When does he sleep?” “I don't think he does.” (glass breaks) “Never a dull moment with that scalawag.” “I'm pretty sure he must be part demon.” “Nonsense. He's all boy.” 2022 August 9, Ayo Edebiri & Shana Gohd, “Private School” (0:54 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 5, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry):
3. (archaic, derogatory) A scrawny cow.
4. (US, archaic, derogatory, historical) Any white Southerner who supported the federal plan of Reconstruction after the American Civil War or who joined with the black freedmen and the carpetbaggers in support of Republican Party policies.
   • “And you, Hugh Elsing, I’m ashamed of you! What will your poor mother say? Drunk and out with a—a Yankee-loving Scallawag like Captain Butler![…]” 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 803:
5. (Philippines) rogue police; rogue military personnel

Forms

Deriveds

scalawaggery · scally · scallie