Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps imitative (of the effect of alliterative verse: compare quot. c1410), or perhaps a transferred use of Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French raf (in rif et raf, rif ne raf, etc. ‘completely, everything, everyone’: see riff and raff adv.). Perhaps compare Middle French, French regional (Walloon) rif-raf quickly and carelessly (1557). Compare later riff-raff n.², and perhaps also raff n.³ Middle Eng. Dict. at raf n.¹ identifies the word with raff n.³

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps originally a variant (with assimilation and loss of final t ) of raft n.¹, or perhaps < early modern German raf, raff, rafe, raffe rafter, beam (Old High German rāfo , rāvo , Middle High German rāve ; German regional (southern, Austria, Switzerland) Raf , Rafe , Rafen , etc., with variable quantity of the stem vowel, cognate with Middle Dutch rāve beam, rafter (Dutch raaf ), Old Saxon raƀa or raƀo board, rafter), or perhaps < early Scandinavian (compare (with originally long vowel) Old Icelandic ráfur , ráf , ræfur rafter, beam, Norwegian regional ræve loft, (Nynorsk) råv roof); the German, Icelandic, and Norwegian words are probably ultimately < the same Germanic base as raft n.¹ and rafter n.¹Attested earliest in the compound raffman n. Quot. 1440 does not gloss a Latin headword in the Promptorium Parvulorum.

Etymology: Apparently partly short for riff and raff one and all, everyone, everything (see riff and raff adv.), and partly (especially in later use) shortened < riff-raff n.¹ Compare raffle n.² However, the relationship between the senses of the word presents various uncertainties. Sense A. 2a may have been influenced semantically by raff v., or may even show an independent origin as a conversion from that verb (in spite of the chronology of the first attestations). The semantic development of senses A. 4a and A. 4b is unclear; it is possible that they may show a different word. Compare later raft n.² Perhaps compare also earlier raff n.¹

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps a transferred use of raff n.³ (compare raff n.³ 4a).

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Formal and semantic parallels include German raffen and ( < German) French rafer , Swedish raffa (see note), but the relationship between these and the English word is unclear. The German verb cannot be a cognate of the English verb for phonological reasons, but neither is borrowing < German likely in a northern English regional word. It is possible that the verb may be < raff n.³ (compare raff n.³ 2a), though perhaps unlikely, given the semantic development from ‘refuse’ to ‘to sweep up’ that would be involved.German raffen to snatch, to seize hastily or greedily, (now usually in the compound zusammenraffen ) to sweep together (Middle High German (in late sources) raffen , reffen ) is < the same Germanic base as rape v.¹, with expressive gemination. Compare ( < German) French (now regional: chiefly eastern) rafer to snatch, to tear (flax) out (1611 in Cotgrave as †rapher; 13th cent. in Old French in sense ‘to ravish’), and (probably < German) Swedish raffa to sweep together, to snatch up (second half of the 17th cent. in †raffa å wägh (of death) to take (a person) away; compare German wegraffen in same sense). With to raff up compare German aufraffen to snatch up (early 16th cent.).