[syn: bedraggled, broken-down, derelict, dilapidated, ramshackle, tatterdemalion, tumble-down]
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]
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]