Gamin

Quick meaning: Gamin is a noun meaning (dated, also attributively) A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also (more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.

Meaning

(dated, also attributively) A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also (more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.

Example Sentences

Here, in front, the deserted street was white and black and silent, under the electric lamps. All the lonelier for two wretched gamins, counting their dirty sous, and draggled newspapers.

Then—far-off music and excitement. Faces at the windows. Naked yellow gamins begin to dance. [...] Down the square the procession goes, followed by the music, turns a corner, and is lost. The gamins leave off dancing.

Dearest Eloise,— There is one little and perhaps insignificant French cake, which I feel certain would soon become a favourite in the cottage, more particularly amongst its juvenile inhabitants. It is the famed galette, the melodramatic food of the gamins, galopins, mechanics, and semi-artists of France.

According to [Gustave] d'Outrepont, Paris is the boy's metaphoric mother, rocking and nursing him in the streets. Attending all municipal events, street spectacles, and popular theater (where he managed by his wits to get in for free), the gamin is constructed in dualities: child and man, cowardly and brave, serious and laughing, cruel and sympathetic.

Word Forms

• gamins

Synonyms for gamin

Depending on context, synonyms include throwaway.

Antonyms for gamin

Common opposites include gamine.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include throwaway, urchin, gamer, raggamuffin, ragamuffin, goniff.

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