Definition of "scrappy"

In those days PGS [Portsmouth Grammar School] was full of sadistic staff and scrappy boys called things like Smudger, Muzz and Titch.

2012, Mark Rice-Oxley, Underneath the Lemon Tree

The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.

2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848