tatterdemalion

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

tatterdemalion
    adj 1: worn to shreds; or wearing torn or ragged clothing; "a
           man in a tattered shirt"; "the tattered flag"; "tied up
           in tattered brown paper"; "a tattered barefoot boy"; "a
           tatterdemalion prince" [syn: {tattered},
           {tatterdemalion}]
    2: in deplorable condition; "a street of bedraggled tenements";
       "a broken-down fence"; "a ramshackle old pier"; "a tumble-
       down shack" [syn: {bedraggled}, {broken-down}, {derelict},
       {dilapidated}, {ramshackle}, {tatterdemalion}, {tumble-down}]
    n 1: a dirty shabbily clothed urchin [syn: {ragamuffin},
         {tatterdemalion}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Tatterdemalion \Tat`ter*de*mal"ion\, n. [Tatter + OF.
   desmaillier to break the meshes of, to tear: cf. OF. maillon
   long clothes, swadding clothes, F. maillot. See {Tatter}, and
   {Mail} armor.]
   A ragged fellow; a ragamuffin. --L'Estrange.
   [1913 Webster]