scalawag

English

Alternative forms

• scallawag, scalliwag, scallywag, skalawag

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.

Noun

scalawag (plural scalawags)

1. (derogatory) A disreputable fellow, a good-for-nothing, a scapegrace, a blackguard.
2. (informal) A badly behaved person, especially a child; a mischief-maker; a rascal.
3. (derogatory, archaic) A scrawny cow.
4. (derogatory, US, archaic or 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.
   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 803:

     “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! […] ”

5. (Philippines, law enforcement, military) rogue police; rogue military personnel

Derived terms

• scally, scallie

References

• “scalawag”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Encyclopædia Britannica - scalawag