| 释义 |
▪ I. riff-raff, riffraff1|ˈrɪfˌræf, -ɑː-|
Forms: 6 ryf raf, rif raf, 7 (9) rif-raf, rifraf; 6 rifraff, 6–7 rifraffe, 7 rife-rafe; 5–6 ryffe raffe, 6 rifferaffe, 6–7 riffe-raffe (7 -raff), riffe raffe (7 ruffe); 6–7 riffraffe, 7 riff-raffe; 6–8 riff raff, 7– riff-raff, 8– riffraff.
[f. the phrase riff and raff: see riff n.1 and raff n.1]
1. Persons of a disreputable character or belonging to the lowest class of a community; † persons of no importance or social position (obs.).
a1470Gregory Chron. (Camden) 191 Many a man was mortheryde and kylde in that conflycte, I wot not what [to] name hyt for the multytude of ryffe raffe. 1528Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Reform. I. 89 Thirty persons, rif raf and other, standing in the chambers. 1599Broughton's Let. vii. 21 To accompt all besides themselues..babish, vnlearned, rifraffe, nobodie. 1678Spanish Hist. ii. 72 No body will be willing to trust himself with the riff raff that dwell there. 1794Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode Wks. 1812 III. 261 What to us riffraff of the World they owe. 1811L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. I. 76 A mere parcel of riff-raff! petty traders and shop-keepers. 1846D. Jerrold Mrs. Caudle ii, All sorts of thieves and vagabonds..and rif-raf of every kind. 1882M. Arnold Irish Ess. 233 There were..a good many riff-raff in the upper gallery.
b. The refuse or scum of a community, class, etc.; the worthless or disreputable element of the populace; the rabble.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 155 The common wealthe can be content to take..the rifraffe of the worlde, to make those instrumentes of. 1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 65 The riffe-raffe of the scribling rascality. 1619Hieron Wks. II. 474 Another bishop doth call them the trash and riffe-raffe of the people. a1686A. Martindale Life (Chetham Soc.) 157 Calling them..the scumme, rabble, rife-rafe (or such like) of the parish. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Riff-raff, the Rabble or Scum of the People, Tagrag and Long-tail. 1799Washington Writ. (1893) XIV. 154 None but the riff-raff of the Country, and the scape-gallowses of the large cities will be to be had. 1851J. H. Newman Pres. Pos. Cath. in Eng. 352 To show all the boys and riff-raff of the towns, what a Papist was like. 1881F. G. Lee R. Barentyne vii, We find..men of knowledge and refinement..in active alliance with all the Radicals and Riff-raff of the age.
†c. A collection of worthless persons. Obs.
1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 693/2 Long were it to make rehearsall of all this rifraffe. 1600Holland Livy xxviii. xii. 676 An armie..mingled of a confused riff raff and medley of all nations.
d. One belonging to the rabble. rare.
1602J. Davies (Heref.) Wks. (Grosart) I. 25/1 When these Riffe-raffes in commotion rise, And all will haue their will. 1647Kentish Serm. (1648) 20 If it were only among the Riffe-Raffs of the people. 1837J. F. Palmer Devon Gloss. 77. 1897 Primmer Rome (1903) 133 Dirty riffraffs kissed the foot and young ladies and nuns followed.
2. Worthless stuff; odds and ends; trumpery, trash, rubbish. Now chiefly dial.
1526Pilgr. Perf. 5 And toke not theyr ryffe raffe, but..theyr princypall substaunce. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 49 It is not..Archimedes prickes, and lines, and circles, and triangles, and Rhombus, and rifferaffe, that hath any force to driue them backe. 1632Whitelocke Mem. (1732) 17 That..they pelted him with rotten Eggs, Stones, and other riff raff. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies ii. i. 128 There is a great deal of Riff-Raff in these Ancients. 1706Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 303 About 12,000 vols. of which some scarce, but y⊇ greatest part Riff-raff. 1794Gifford Baviad (1811) 32 Blot the name of Pasquin from thy page: Thou seest it will not thy poor riff-raff sell. 1863W. W. Story Roba di R. II. ii. 24 Dark dirty shops, in which all sorts of riffraff are sold.
†b. A rubbishy thing. Obs. rare—1.
1600Hakluyt Voy. III. 306 In necessitie they eat a thousand rifraffes euen to the swallowing downe of coales.
3. attrib. or as adj.
a. Of persons: Low or disreputable; belonging to the rabble.
1612tr. Benvenuto Italiano's Passenger i. 71 But what is he able to rule riffe-raffe people? 1649W. M. Wandering Jew (1857) 64 These are Riff-raffe Theeves, the Scum of a State. 1728–9Pope Wks. (1751) V. p. xxviii, Here..should we crave pardon..for having mentioned them in the same page with such weekly riff-raff railers and rhymers. 1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 157 Give 'em thirty thousand pounds a piece, to throw away upon some Riff Raff beggarly fellow. 1883Haddon in W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. Freeman (1895) I. 8 A mob of riffraff snobs had attacked our party.
b. Of things: Worthless, trashy.
1608Bodley in Reliq. B. (1703) 82 In any wise take no riff raff Books (for such will but prove a Discredit to our Library). 1612T. James Corrupt. Scripture iv. 43 Seeing such riffe-raffe doctrine in it, [he] would not take it into his Worke. 1711Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 243 The large 4to ed. of Sallust full of riff-raff Notes. 1827Scott Jrnl. 30 Apr., Nothing to-day but a pack of riff-raff cases of petty larceny and trash. 1861G. M. Musgrave By-Roads France 54 The fair..was a riff-raff conglomeration of..folly, trash, trumpery, and charlatanism.
†4. (See quot.) Obs.—0
1598Florio, Raffola ruffola, by rifraffe, by hooke or crooke, by pinching or scraping.
▪ II. † riff-raff2 Obs. rare.
Forms: 6 rif raf, 6–7 riffe raffe.
[Onomatopœic (cf. raff n.2); but perh. partly suggested by prec.]
A hurly-burly, a racket; a rude piece of verse.
1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 These vnrulye reuels, and rif rafs wholye disordred,..thee sea king Neptun awaked. 1600Nashe Summer's Last Will D 3 The Poet is bribde..to hold him halfe the night with riffe, raffe, of the rumming of Elanor. 1617Rich Irish Hubbub 3 [Stanyhurst] tooke vpon him to translate Virgill, and stript him..out of a Latin Heroicall verse, into an English riffe raffe. |