word of the day :: scallywag

scallywag:
[skal-ee-wag]
–noun
a scamp; rascal

Origin:
1850–55, Americanism; orig. uncert.

" For my part," said Armitage, " I call him a scallywag."

" What's a scallywag ?" Nea Blair asked, looking up at him from her seat with inquiring wonder.

Armitage paused a moment, and perused his boots. It's so hard on a fellow to be pounced upon like that for a definition offhand. " Well, a scallywag," he answered, leaning his back for moral support against the big eucalyptus tree beside which he stood, " a scallywag, I should say, well— well, is—why, he's the sort of man, you know, you wouldn't like to be seen walking down Piccadilly with."

" Oh, I see," Nea exclaimed, with a bright little laugh. " You mean, if you were walking down Piccadilly, yourself, in a frock coat and shiny tall hat, with an orchid from Bull's stuck in your buttonhole ! Then I think, Mr. Armitage, I rather like scallywags."

 (Grant Allen, The Scallywag)

* Definition from www.dictionary.com