Brewer's: Bully-rook

A blustering cheat. Like bully, it is sometimes used without any offensive meaning. Thus the Host, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, addresses Sir John Falstaff, Ford, and Page, etc., as bully-rook—“How now, my bully-rook?” equal to “my fine fellow.”

A bully rake is “one who fights for fighting's sake.” To bully-rag is to intimidate; bully-ragging is abusive intimidation. According to Halliwell, a rag is a scold, and hence a “ragging” means a scolding. Connected with rage.

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language