rakeshame

English

Etymology

Compare rakehell, ragabash.

Noun

rakeshame (plural rakeshames)

1. (obsolete) An objectionable person.
   • 1641, John Milton, Of Reformation of Church-Discipline in England, Book II:

     […] if such divine ministeries as these, wherein the angel of the church represents the person of Christ Jesus, must lie prostitute to sordid fees, and not pass to and fro between our Saviour, that of free grace redeemed us, and the submissive penitent, without the truckage of perishing coin, and the butcherly execution of tormentors, rooks, and rakeshames sold to lucre ; then have the Babylonish merchants of souls just excuse.

References

• “rakeshame”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.