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Feb 28, 2019
This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
catchall
pinchpenny
scrapegut
rakehell
do-all

The Righteous Rakehell
The Righteous Rakehell
For some reason, the word rakehell occurs often in romance titles. Is it due to the belief that women are attracted to bad boys?

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

rakehell

PRONUNCIATION:
(RAYK-hel)

MEANING:
noun: A licentious or immoral person.

ETYMOLOGY:
By folk etymology from Middle English rakel (rash, hasty). Earliest documented use: 1547.

USAGE:
“The titular character, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, was a notorious rakehell as well as being a classically influenced, but principally obscene poet and playwright. He was repeatedly exiled from the court of Charles II for everything from abducting his future wife to vandalising a sundial, and died at the age of 33 from alcoholism and venereal disease.”
Ian Shuttleworth; Thoroughly Unlikeable, Highly Enjoyable; Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 29, 2016.

See more usage examples of rakehell in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is good to rub and polish your mind against that of others. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (28 Feb 1533-1592)

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