scatterling
English
Etymology
scatter + -ling
Noun
scatterling (plural scatterlings)
- (obsolete) One who has no fixed residence; a vagabond.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagabond
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, page 63:
- Long time in peace his realm establishd, / Yet oft annoyd with sundry bordragings / Of neighbour Scots, and forrein scatterlings.
- 1839, Benjamin Disraeli, The Tragedy of Count Alarcos, published 1910, page 388:
- But ah! her fatal vengeance Struck to my heart. A banished scatterling I wandered on the earth.
- 1986, Paul Simon (lyrics and music), “You Can Call Me Al”, in Graceland:
- He is surrounded by the sound, the sound / Cattle in the marketplace / Scatterlings and orphanages
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for scatterling in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Anagrams
- clatterings