Originally applied in the chase to a lean, worthless deer, then a collective term for the commonalty, the mob; and popularly to a base fellow Shakespeare says, Horns! the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal [deer] Palsgrave calls a starveling animal, like the lean kine of Pharaoh, a rascall refus beest (1530) The French have racaille (riff-raff) Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal - Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV , v 4 Rascal Counters Pitiful or paltry s d Brutus calls money paltry compared with friendship, etc When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friend Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, Dash him to pieces Shakespeare Julius Caesar iv 5 Rasher A slice, as a rasher of bacon