street urchins
Ragged city children
Street urchins are poor children living or working on city streets, typically unsupervised and scraping by through odd jobs, begging, or petty theft.
The term evokes Victorian-era imagery of ragged, dirty children hawking newspapers or shining shoes: Dickens populated his novels with street urchins.
The phrase carries a slightly romantic or nostalgic tone, softening the reality of child poverty.
- begAsk with desperation
- gaminHomeless street child
- waifsHomeless, neglected young ones
- scampMischievous young person
- ragamuffinShabby, unkempt child
orphans · hunger · homeless · rascal · guttersnipes · neglect · dart · mudlarks · chimney sweeps · barefoot · Victorian · grime · threadbare · workhouses · Fagin · social realism · back alleys · vagabonds
- Edwardian BritainEdward VII, Queen Victoria, country houses, manor houses, servants
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- roguesrogue, rogues, scoundrel, scoundrels, rascal
- social classesupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, nobles
- troublemakerstroublemaker, rascals, delinquents, imps, brats
- Victorian LondonLondon, Thames, Big Ben, Westminster, East End