spec. Any one of a band of undisciplined camp followers or pillagers moving with, in advance of, or behind the main body of an army, and sometimes…

Hence in transferred and allusive uses, with various shades of meaning. An attendant, follower, companion, assistant: almost always contemptuous…

A member of a gang or army adhering to a particular leader; a hired ruffian or mercenary.

A devoted or zealous (male) political supporter, a partisan. Also: a person (usually a man) engaged by a politician to further his or her interests…