Word of the Day : October 23, 2020

guttersnipe \GUTT-er-snype\ noun

Definition

1 : a young vagabond : an outcast boy or girl in the streets of a city

2 : a person of the lowest moral or economic station

Did You Know?

"Unfurl yourselves under my banner, noble savages, illustrious guttersnipes," wrote Mark Twain sometime around 1869. Twain was among the first writers to use guttersnipe for a young hoodlum or street urchin. In doing so, he was following a trend among writers of the time to associate gutter (a low area at the side of a road) with a low station in life. Other writers in the late 19th century used guttersnipe more literally as a name for certain kinds of snipes, or birds with long thin beaks that live in wet areas. Gutter-bird was another term that was used for both birds and disreputable persons. And even snipe itself has a history as a term of opprobrium; it was used as such during William Shakespeare's day.

Aired October 23, 2020

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