Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
An idle vagrant, sturdy beggar, or dishonest person.
Modern meaning
An unpredictable rule-breaker; sometimes a lovable rascal or maverick.
Research lens
This belongs near the status shelf and the softened-scolds shelf at once: exclusionary contempt survives inside later glamour.
Meaning trail
Older sense
vagrant or beggar
The early word belongs to social exclusion and suspicion.
Bridge
dishonest rascal
Character judgment hardens around the outsider.
Now
mischievous or maverick figure
Modern tone can make the same outsider energy attractive.