Tudor & Stuart · insult · noun
Shabbaroon
shab-uh-ROONpronunciation reconstructed — no period source gives it
First recordedby 1675
A shabby, down-at-heel, badly dressed person; by Grose's time also a mean-spirited person.
Where it was first recorded
Richard Head, The Art of Wheedling, 1675, per Green's Dictionary of Slang.
Also spelled: shabberoon, shabroon
In its own time
SHABBAROON. An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also a mean-spirited person.
Today
Modern exampleHe turned up to the gala in a stained anorak, looking every inch the shabbaroon.
Fine to use as a playful old word for someone scruffy or stingy; it has no offensive overtones.
Questions
What does shabbaroon mean?
A shabby, down-at-heel, badly dressed person; by Grose's time also a mean-spirited person.
When was shabbaroon first used?
It is first recorded by 1675 — Richard Head, The Art of Wheedling, 1675, per Green's Dictionary of Slang.
Can you still use shabbaroon today?
Fine to use as a playful old word for someone scruffy or stingy; it has no offensive overtones.
Sources
- shabberoon, n. — Green's Dictionary of Slang
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Francis Grose, 1st edition (London: S. Hooper, 1785) — Internet Archive (scan + OCR)
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'), Francis Grose — Project Gutenberg eBook #5402
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: rare — genuine, but marked rare, obsolete or archaic, or seldom recorded, in the dictionaries listed above