scofflaw

English

Pronunciation

• skflô, skôf-

Etymology

Coined simultaneously by Mr Henry Irving Dale and Miss Kate L. Butler for a contest held in Boston in 1923 in which a word for "a lawless drinker of illegally made or illegally obtained liquor" was sought during the Prohibition era.^[1]

Noun

scofflaw (plural scofflaws)

1. One who habitually violates minor laws or fails to answer trivial court summonses (such as parking tickets).
2. An iconoclast.

References

1. ^ Quinion, Michael, World Wide Words, http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-sco2.htm