ragtag and bobtail
- idiom
- Offensive
:
chusma
- Critics dismissed the protestors as just the usual ragtag and bobtail causing trouble.
Examples
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When the parade reached the square, a ragtag and bobtail of supporters followed.
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What a ragtag and bobtail team!
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The invitation list included everyone from the elite to the ragtag and bobtail of the town.
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The ragtag and bobtail crew is here.
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The crowd that gathered at the protest was a real ragtag and bobtail of various strange characters.
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When the old car broke down, a ragtag and bobtail of friends helped push it to the side of the road.
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In the back of the bus, a ragtag and bobtail of teenagers joked and laughed together.
Synonyms
39
7.2
A large noisy crowd of people who are hard to control
17
8.2
People who are seen as rude or not honest and looked down on
10
6.8
Ordinary people who seem to lack money or good manners
3
8.8
Ordinary people who richer, more powerful people often talk about in a rude way
Antonyms
- Formal
144
4.8
Very successful and respected for important achievements or good character
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'ragtag' alone suggests a disorderly or motley collection, the paired form 'ragtag and bobtail' is an idiomatic, somewhat archaic binomial whose overall meaning ('a motley, disreputable group') cannot be reliably derived from the literal constituents—especially since 'bobtail' has no clear, relevant lexical meaning for learners. The phrase is fixed and conventionalized, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would still likely not predict the idiomatic sense.
Etymology
Ragtag and bobtail may come from two old images: ragtag described people in torn rags, and bobtail named animals with short or cut tails that looked rough. Together they made a picture of a messy, mixed crowd, so the phrase now means 'a mixed, rough group' or 'ordinary, disreputable people'.