What is the exact definition of "scallywag"?

Question

What is the exact definition of "scallywag"?

Answer 1

thats not the rite way to spell it

it's Scallawag, which means:

1 : scamp, reprobate

2 : a white Southerner acting in support of the reconstruction governments after the American Civil War often for private gain

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if you read in history class about the reconstruction era, than you should know wat it means.

Answer 2

If you are referring to the pirate slang form of the word, then calling someone a scallywag would be referring to them as a bad person, or a scoundrel.  

Answer 3

scallywag

Same as  scalawag

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/d...

scallywag (UK) (scalawag, US)

someone, especially a child, who has behaved badly but who is still liked

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.a...

scallywag

Alternative spellings

    * scalawag (archaic)

    * scallawag (archaic)

scallywag (plural scallywags)

   1. (pejorative) A rascal.

Derived terms

    * scally

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scallywag

Informal. A reprobate; a rascal.

A white Southerner working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: scalawag

U.S. Southerner who supported Reconstruction. Opponents also applied the pejorative term to those who joined with carpetbaggers and freedmen to support Republican Party policies. The term, of unknown origin, was used from the 1840s to denote a worthless farm animal and later a worthless person. Scalawags included former Whigs and hill-country farmers with Unionist sympathies and constituted nearly 20% of the white electorate after the American Civil War. Many held government positions in the South and advocated moderate reforms.

Obscure Words: scalawag

[origin unknown] or scallywag

/SKAL uh wag/ or /~ lee wag/  1) rascal, scamp, reprobate

2) an undersized or ill-conditioned animal

3) a white Southerner who supported reconstruction policies

Wikipedia: scalawag

In the United States, a Scalawag was a Southern white who joined the Republican party in the ex-Confederate South during Reconstruction. The term originally was pejorative and meant rascal, but is used in the 21st century by most scholars and reference books. The postwar scalawags overlapped with the wartime Unionists in the South, but they were distinct groups.

http://www.answers.com/scallywag

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.c...

http://www.word-detective.com/121603.htm...

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords...

1. White Southerner supporting Reconstruction policies after the Civil War usually for self-interest.

2. A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel.

3. One who is playfully mischievous.

Movie/TV Titles - The Scallywag (1921)

Music - Best Of: Scallywag Jazz & More

Answer 4

It's a noun meaning a badly behaved but likeable person; rascal [origin unknown]

Please see below for its synonyms:

scallywag - one who is playfully mischievous

scamp, imp, monkey, rapscallion, rascal, scalawag

child, kid, minor, nipper, tiddler, youngster, tike, shaver, small fry, nestling, fry, tyke - a young person of either s*x; "she writes books for children"; "they're just kids"; "`tiddler' is a British term for youngster"

brat, holy terror, little terror, terror - a very troublesome child