RASCAL  , a

term originally used in the sense of a rabble, especially descriptive of camp-followers or the dregs of an army, or of the lowest of the people; now only of a single person, in the sense of a rogue or knave . The origin of O.Fr. rascaille, modern racaille, from which the word came into English, is uncertain . The word was early used, in hunting, for the weaker or poorer male deer of a herd; the word has been connected with O.Fr. rascler, mod. racier, to scrape, rake, in the sense of the off-scourings of the herd .