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Riffraff   /rˈɪfrˌæf/   Listen
Riffraff

noun
1.
Disparaging terms for the common people.  Synonyms: rabble, ragtag, ragtag and bobtail.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Riffraff" Quotes from Famous Books



... moment doubt that blood will flow on Monday evening or on Tuesday. I should not have believed that the democrats would be confident enough to take up the gage of battle, but all their behavior indicates that they are bent on it. Poles, Frankfort men, loafers, volunteers—all sorts of riffraff are again at hand. They count on the defection of the troops, apparently misled by the talk of individual discontented gabblers among the soldiers; but I think they will make a great mistake. I personally have no occasion to await the thing here, and so to tempt God by asking him ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. X. • Kuno Francke

... bakery—under inspection—conformed rigidly with the Government requirements; but he had no intention of spoiling his own dinners. Any necessary conservation could be effected at the expense of the riffraff through which he had driven coming from the station. Black bread was ...
— The Happy End • Joseph Hergesheimer

... can't you imagine what it will be?" protested Neale. "Take thousands of soldiers—the riffraff of the war—and thousands of laborers of all classes, niggers, greasers, pigtail chinks, and Irish. Take thousands of men who want to earn an honest dollar, but not honestly. All the gamblers, outlaws, robbers, murderers, criminals, adventurers in the States, and perhaps ...
— The U.P. Trail • Zane Grey

... Kells will drive him out of camp or kill him. I tell you, Kells is the biggest man in Alder Creek. There's talk of office—a mayor and all that—and if the miners can forget gold long enough they'll elect Kells. But the riffraff, these bloodsuckers who live off the miners, they'd rather not have any ...
— The Border Legion • Zane Grey

... or four policemen came in, each leading a man by the collar, the ordinary riffraff of the street, charged with petty offences. One was very drunk and abusive. He attracted the attention of everybody in the room by his antics. He insisted on dancing a breakdown which he called the "Essence of Jeems' River"; ...
— The Bread-winners - A Social Study • John Hay

... first in the simplest possible style. Our pioneer brigade, carefully selected from the competent Out-of-Works in the City Colony, would be sent down to layout the estate and prepare it for those who would come after. And here let me say that it is a great delusion to imagine that in the riffraff and waste of the labour market there are no workmen to be had except those that are worthless. Worthless under the present conditions, exposed to constant temptations to intemperance no doubt they are, but some of the brightest men in London, with some of ...
— "In Darkest England and The Way Out" • General William Booth



Words linked to "Riffraff" :   common people, folk, trash, folks, scum



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