Word.ws English Dictionary

bangster

bangster noun: a violent, overbearing man; a ruffian, bully or braggart.

Noun

bangster (plural bangsters)

  1. (Scotland, archaic) A violent, overbearing man; a ruffian, bully or braggart.
    • “[…]but ere this preparative pass, that we dare not correct our scholars for fear of bangsters and clanned gentlemen, they shall have all the blood of my body first.”1840, Thomas McCrie, The life of Andrew Melville, the Scottish reformer, abridged for the Board from McCrie's Life of Melville, page 15
  2. (Scotland, archaic) A victor.
    • None can ever match his fling,
      At a reel, or round a ring.
      Wightly can he wield a rung;
      In a brawl he's aye the bangster:[…]1829, Robert Chambers, “The Maid that Tends the Goats”, in The Scottish songs, volume 2, page 506

Forms of bangster

pluralbangsters

Origin of bangster

From bang + -ster.

Questions about bangster

What does bangster mean?
Bangster means a violent, overbearing man; a ruffian, bully or braggart.
What part of speech is bangster?
Bangster is a noun.
What is the plural of bangster?
The plural of bangster is bangsters.

Words near bangster in the dictionary

  1. bangsilog
  2. bangsome
  3. bangsring
  4. bangsrings
  5. Bangstad syndrome
  6. bangster
  7. bangsters
  8. bangstick
  9. bangsticks
  10. bangstry
  11. bangtail

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bangster (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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