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guttersnipe definition

gutter·snipe (-snīp′)

noun

a child of the slums who spends most of his or her time in the streets: contemptuous term applied to anyone regarded as having the manners, morals, etc. of the gutter

Etymology: orig. (Brit dial.), the common snipe, which picks food out of gutters

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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