rantipole

plural rantipoles

1. A rude, unruly young person.

   1 more example

   Tom was to be sure, what is called a good boy; he never soiled his clothes, as I did. I was always considered as a rantipole, for whom any thing was good enough. But when I saw my brother tricked out in new clothes, and his old duds covering me like a scarecrow, I appeal to any honourable mind whether it was in human nature to feel otherwise than I did, without possessing an angelic disposition, to which I never pretended; and I fairly own that I did shed not one-fiftieth part so many tears over Tom’s grave as I did over his dirty pantaloons, when forced to put them on.

   1829, [Frederick Marryat], chapter V, in The Naval Officer; or, Scenes and Adventures in the Life of Frank Mildmay. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 150

   Synonyms: hoodlum, yob, agitator, bad boy, bad news, bear, beggar, bhoy

2. A rakish person.

   For example: that my wife, Lady Vibrate, is an extravagant rackety rantipole woman of fashion, can I doubt that? No. That she squanders my money, disturbs my peace, and contradicts for contradiction's sake, can I doubt that? No.

   1798, Thomas Holcroft, He's Much To Blame, act II, scene I

   1 more example

   Your modern Rantipole, then, is of high Birth, or considerable Fortune, or great Beauty, either of which may entitle her to do that which others are ashamed of, who have not those superb Qualifications, and enable her to reverse the true Estimation of Things, and value herself upon being good for nothing. A young Rantipole, as soon as let out of the Cage, most commonly enters the Order, and opens her first Scene of Life with the Choice of a Gallant, whom she reizes egregiously for a Number of Years, and then marries and torments him without Mercy.

   1757, by a Lady, A Letter to the Natural Historians, containing some Account of the Rantipole, etc., The London Chronicle, number 11, Jan 22–25

   Synonyms: hood rat, rake, rizzler, adulterer, bed-hopper, carpetmonger, chamberer, debauchee

3. archaicA prostitute.

   Farewell to the change, / Where rantipoles range; / Farewell cold tea, / And ratafie, / Hide-park, where pride / In coaches ride,

   1740, “Song XLV”, in The Tea-Table Miscellany: or, a Collection of Choice Songs, Scots and English, 10th edition, volume 3, London: A. Millar, page 265

   Synonyms: harlot, strumpet, abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl

4. archaicA sex position with the woman on top of the man.

   Synonyms: cowgirl, St. George

present singular third person rantipoles · participle present rantipoling · participle past rantipoled · past rantipoled

1. intransitiveTo act in a rude, unruly fashion.

   'Twas no Ramping, Rantipoling, Fiery-Furnace kind of Calf Love on my part, but a matured and sensible admixture of Gratitude and Sincere Affection.

   1863, George Augustus Sala, The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, volume 3, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 269

   2 more examples

   The Eldeſt vvas a termagant, imperious, prodigal, levvd, profligate VVench, as ever breath'd; ſhe uſed to Rantipole about the Houſe, pinch the Children, kick the Servants, and torture the Cats and the Dogs; […]

   1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How the Guardians of the Deceas’d Mrs. Bull’s Three Daughters Came to John, and what Advice they Gave Him; wherein is Briefly Treated the Characters of the Three Daughters: Also John Bull’s Answer to the Three Guardians”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], Edinburgh: […] James Watson, […], →OCLC, page 21

   Oh, cruel vas^([sic]) the splinter that broke my poor love's leg, / Now he's obliged to fiddle for't, and I'm obliged to beg; / A vagabonding vagrant, and a rantipoling wife, / We fiddles, and we limps it, thro' the ups and downs of life.

   1822, Daniel Bryant, “Oh, Cruel! Or, The Vagabonding Vagrant, and Rantipoling Wife”, in Hodgson's New Skylark, London: Hodgson & Co, page 94

   Synonyms: act up, misbehave, show one's ass, take liberties

comparative more rantipole · superlative most rantipole

1. obsoleteRude; unruly.

   Then as he paused irresolutely with cap and pipe-clayed gloves in hands, he heard more than certainly even Rose, in her most rantipole mood, ever meant he should hear.

   1871, James Grant, Only an Ensign: A Tale of the Retreat from Cabul, volume 2, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 106

   3 more examples

   This rantipole hero had for some time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries, and though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear, yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes.

   1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

   "I wish, lady Adelaide," he said, "that all my customers, be they rantipole Cavaliers, or canting Puritans, […] that either of these would at all times leave in my hands security for the money which they demand, as good as this which you offer […]"

   1850, Elizabeth Margaret Stewart, Royalists and Roundheads, volume 2, London: William Shoberl, page 94

   And everywhere, in every age, it seemed to him, men stumbled amiable and shatter-pated through a jungle of miracles, blind to its wonderfulness, and intent to gain a little money, food and sleep, a trinket or two, some rare snatched fleeting moments of rantipole laughter, and at the last a decent bed to die in.

   1917, James Branch Cabell, “In Pursuit of a Whisper”, in The Cream of the Jest, New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, page 132

   Synonyms: churlish, irrepressible, aweless, improper, bad-mannered, barbaric, bold, bumptious