Ras"cal , a. Of or pertaining to the common
herd or common people; low; mean; base. "The rascal many."
Spenser. "The rascal people."
Shak.
While she called me rascal fiddler.
Shak.
Ras"cal (răs"kal),
n. [OE. rascaille rabble, probably from an OF.
racaille, F. racaille the rabble, rubbish, probably akin to F.
racler to scrape, (assumed) LL. rasiculare, rasicare, fr.
L. radere, rasum. See
Rase, v.]
1. One of the rabble; a low,
common sort of person or
creature; collectively, the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean,
ill-conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [Obs.]
He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal.
Wyclif (1 Kings [1 Samuel] vi. 19). Poor men alone? No, no;
the noblest deer hath them [horns] as huge as the rascal.
Shak. 2. A mean, trickish fellow; a base, dishonest person; a rogue; a scoundrel; a trickster.
For I have sense to serve my turn
in store,
And he's a rascal who pretends to more.
Dryden.
Hear it pronounced