Tatterdemalion
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A person with tattered clothing.
"[…] we haue ordeined that through euery ward […] there be erected one sound, sufficient, and well painted whipping poste, the very sight of which wil not only scarre them, worse then the scowting face of a Serieant being seen peeping through a red lettice, frights a yong gallant, but also in time driue the whole band of Tatterdemalions from poste to piller."
- 2 a dirty shabbily clothed urchin wordnet
- 1 Tattered.
"The house, on his arrival, seemed in some confusion, as if a catastrophe had happened in the family; and the servants clustered together in the hall, and were unable, or perhaps not altogether anxious, to suppress their merriment at the tatterdemalion figure of the secretary."
- 1 in deplorable condition wordnet
- 2 worn to shreds; or wearing torn or ragged clothing wordnet
Example
More examples"The house, on his arrival, seemed in some confusion, as if a catastrophe had happened in the family; and the servants clustered together in the hall, and were unable, or perhaps not altogether anxious, to suppress their merriment at the tatterdemalion figure of the secretary."
Etymology
First attested circa 1608. An early spelling was tatter-de-mallion, rhymed with Italian. The first part of the word is tatter; the origin of the second part is uncertain; Ebenezer Cobham Brewer suggested it might be from de maillot (“shirt”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.