scamp
scamp Lexical Profile
scamp Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A person, especially a child, who is mischievous in a playful, likeable, or harmless way.
"The little scamp hid his sister's shoes right before they had to leave for school."
American A brownish-gray marine grouper of the family Epinephelidae, native to the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and prized as a food fish.
"The anglers caught a large scamp near the deep-water reef off the coast of Florida."
• verb
To perform or execute a task, job, or piece of work in a hasty, negligent, or superficial manner.
"If you scamp the preparation work, the fresh paint will start peeling within a year."
• Rhymes for scamp
Word Origin & Etymology
Entered English in the 18th century as cant for a highwayman, shortened from the obsolete verb 'scamper' (to rob on the highway), which ultimately derives from Middle Dutch 'schampen' meaning 'to slip away'.