A worthless fellow. “A favorite epithet in western New York,” says Bartlett (1848). The word is not found in the Slang Dictionary, or in Matsell’s ‘Vocabulum’ (1859).
[1851. He wants to command the votes of this pack of poor scatterwags that he proposes to appoint.—Mr. Cartter of Ohio, House of Repr., Jan. 16: Cong. Globe, p. 259].
1854. (A name for poor cattle). The number of miserable “scallawags” is so great that … they tend to drag down all above themselves to their own level.—N.Y. Tribune, Oct. 24 (Century Dict.). The N.E.D. suggests that this may have been the original use of the word.
1854. An old chap residing near here, who might be classed as one of the genus ‘Scalawag,’ who was too lazy to work, but picked up a living by pettifogging, and other means more or less equivocal.—Knick. Mag., xliv. 103 (July). (Italics in the original.)
