scavenge 
While the rocks were covered with ten thousand sea- 
unemones and corals and madrepores, who scavenged the 
water all day long, and kept it nice and pure. 
Kingsley, Water-Babies, p. 175. 
scavenger (skav'en-jer), H. [Early mod. E. 
also tfavtmger; with intrusive n as iu w/r.( u- 
ger, passenger, jmr ringer; < ME. scavager, <OF. 
scaicageour, lit. one who had to do with scavage, 
< "scavage, escavage, scavage: see seavage 1 . The 
word has come to be regarded as a noun of 
agent in -er 1 , whence the verb scavenge.'] If. 
An officer whose duty it was to take custom 
upon the inspection of imported goods, and 
later also to see that the streets were kept 
clean. Also scavager, 
The Scaeagers, Aleconners, Bedel, and other officials. 
Liber Albus (ed. Riley), p. 34. 
Hence 2. A person whose employment is to 
clean the streets, etc., of a city or the like, by 
scraping or sweeping together and carrying off 
the filth. 
Dick, the scavenger, with equal grace 
Flirts from his cart the mud in Walpole's face. 
5384 
of this kind were also called lame (v<u*ii, clatula: cf. choli- 
ambits) by the ancients, as opposed to normal or perfect 
(apa, recta, Integra) meters. Some ancient Latin me'tri- 
cians apply the term icaznn, apparent!; through misappre- 
hension, to other irregular meters, such as the hexameter 
miurus, lines wanting the last syllable, etc. See choliamb, 
Hipponactean, ischiorrhoyic. 
SCear, . In frcnrms, same as scar. 
The tcear was acted upon by a trigger in the usual way 
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 49. 
sceat, it.-, pi. sceattax. [AS. great (ML. seeatta): 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Silver Sceat British 
Museum. (Size of the 
original. ) 
i A cloaked Frere, 
Sweating in th' channel like a scawngere. 
Bp. Hall, Satires, IV. vii. 48. 
3. In cotton-spinning, a child employed to col- 
lect the loose cotton lying about the floor or 
machinery. 4. In entom., a scavenger-beetle. 
Scavenger roll, in cotton-manuf., a roller in a spinning- 
machine to collect the loose fiber or fluff which gathers 
on the parts with which it is placed in contact. Scav- 
enger's daughter, a corruption of Sleecington's daugh- 
ter, an instrument of torture invented by Sir W Skeving- 
ton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London in the reign of 
Henry VIII., consisting of a broad hoop of iron, which 
so compressed the body as to force the blood from the 
nose and ears, and sometimes from the hands and feet 
scavenger-beetle (skav'en-jer-be'tl), n. A ne- 
crophagous beetle, which acts as a scavenger: 
sometimes specifically applied to the family 
Scaphidiidie. Compare bitryinq-beetle, sexton- 
beetle. 
scavenger-crab (skav'en-jer-krab), n. Any crab 
which feeds on dead or decaying animal mat- 
ter. Most crabs have this habit and are notably efficient 
in making away with carrion, among them the edible crabs. 
On some parts of the Atlantic coast of the United States 
thousands of small fiddler-crabs may be seen about a car- 
cass ; and on some sandy beaches, as the Carolinian a dead 
animal washed ashore Is soon beset by a host of horse- 
man-crabs (Oejflwda), which mine the sand and live in these 
temporary burrows as long as the feast lasts, 
scavengering (skav'en-jer-ing),M. [< scavenger 
+ -ingt. ] The work of scavengers ; street-clean- 
ing; cleansing operations. 
A characteristic feature of the place are the turkey, 
buzzards, who do the scavrngering. 
Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 163. 
scavengerism (skav'en-jer-izm), n. [< scaven- 
ger + -ism.'] Street-cleaning; scavenging work 
or operations. CarlyU, in Fronde. 
scavengershipt (skav'en-j6r-ship), 11. [Early 
mod. E. also skavengersshipe ; < scavenger + 
-/((>.] Work in clearing away dirt and filth 
from the streets, etc. 
To Mr. Mathewe, for tkavengersshipe. 
Churchwarden's Accounts (1580) of S. Michael's, CornhUl 
[(ed. by Overall), p. 152. (Dames.) 
scavengery (skav'eu-jer-i), n. [< scavenger + 
-y (see -eri/).~] Same as scavagery. 
The scavengery [of London] is committed to the care of 
the several parishes, each making its own contract the 
sewerage is consigned by Parliament to a body of commis- 
sioners. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 203. 
scavenging (skav'en-jing), n. [Verbal n. of 
scavenge, r.] Street-cleaning ; removal of filth. 
In general terms it can be asserted that in these works 
the decreased cost of maintenance, repairs, scavenging, 
<tc., of the wood as compared with the cost of the sanie 
services for macadam pays the increased cost incurred 
by the capital sunk in the roads, and the nett result has 
been equilibrium in the yearly expenditure. 
Fortnightly Rev., If. S., XLIII. 148. 
SCavernick (skav'er-uik), H. [< Corn, seaver- 
iioeek, skavernak, scovarnog, the hare, lit. 'long- 
eared' (Polwhele).] A hare. [Cornwall, Eng ] 
scavilonest (skav'i-lonz), n. pi. Drawers worn 
by men under the hose in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 
scaw, n. See skate. 
scazon (ska'zon), n.; pi. scazons or season tes 
see scat 1 . J An early Aliglo- 
Saxoi] coin. Specimens occur 
in gold, but most frequently in 
silver. Their average weight is 
15 grains, and they were prob- 
ably current from about 6UO to 
SCedet, . [< OF. xcetle, a 
tablet for writing, < L. 
sclieda or scida, a slip or sheet of paper: see 
schedule.] A schedule. 
A deed (as I have oft seen) to convey a whole manor 
was implicit? contained in some twenty lines or there- 
abouts, like that scede, or Sytala Laconica, so much re- 
nowned of old In all contracts. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 51. 
scedulet, . See schedule. 
sceleratt, n. See scelerate. 
sceleratet (sere-rat), o. and n. [Also scelerat; 
<OF. scelerat, vernacularly scelere, F. scelerat = 
Pg. seelerado = It. scellerato, scelerata, < L. scele- 
ratus, wicked, impious, lit. polluted by crime, 
pp. of scelerare, pollute, defile, desecrate, < scelus 
(sceler-), a crime, wickedness.] I. a. Wicked ; 
villainous. 
That whole Denomination, at least the Potentates or 
Heads of them, are charged with the mot scelerate Plot 
that ever was heard of : that is, paying Assassins to mur- 
der a sovereign Prince. Roger North, Examen, p. 191. 
II. . A wicked man; a villain; a criminal. 
Scelerat* can by no arts stifle the cries of a wounded 
conscience. (j. cheyne. 
He was, and is, a scelerat and a coward. 
J. H. ShorUunue, John Iiiglesant, xxi. 
sceleroust (sel'e-rus), a. [< L. gcelerosus, wick- 
ed, abominable, < scelus (sceler-), a crime, wick- 
edness.] Wicked; villainous. 
Kynge Richard, by this abominable mischyef & sceleroui 
act [the murder of the princes] thinkyng hymself well re- 
leuyd bothe of feare and thought, woulde not have it kept 
counsail. Hall, Richard III., an. i. 
I have gathered and understand their deep dissimula- 
tion and detestable dealing, being marvellous subtle and 
crafty in their kind, for not one amongst twenty will dis- 
cover either declare their scelervus secrets. 
Harmon, Caveat for Cursetors, p. ill 
scelestict (se-les'tik), a. [Also scelestique; < L. 
M0fcta*, villainous, infamous, < scelus (sceler-), 
a crime, wickedness.] Wicked ; evil ; atro- 
cious. 
For my own part, I think the world hath not better 
men than some that suffer under that name ; nor, with- 
all, more scelestique villaines. Feltham, Resolves, i. 5. 
scelett, w. See skelet. 
scelides (sel'i-dez), w. pi. [NL., < Gr. oneUttc, 
pi. of ane'/.lf, a leg, < mrfAof. a leg.] The lower, 
posterior, or pelvic extremities of mammals. 
scelidosaur (sel'i-do-sar), w. A dinosaur of the 
genus Seflidosaiinix. 
scene 
nopterous family Prw-to,n//m,>,typical of a sub- 
family Scelionina. The chief generic character is the 
lack of a postmarglnal vein of the fore wings. The spe- 
cies are parasitic in the eggs or egg-pods of short-hnrni-d 
grasshoppers or 
locusts (Acridi- 
idse). S. fameli- 
cus (Calopteiuibia 
ovimra of Riley) 
is a common para- 
site of the Rocky 
Mountain locust, 
or western grass- 
hopper, Melanv- 
pliis spretus. An- 
other species (un- 
described) Infests 
the egg-pods of o 
the lesser migra- 
tory locust, Me- 
lanoplitg atlanix, 
while still another 
has been reared 
from the eggsof the large South American migratory locust 
scellumt, n. See skellum. 
SceloporUS (se-lop'o-rus), n. [NL. (Wiegmann, 
1828), also Sceleoptiorus, Scelephorns; < Gr. OK(- 
/.of, leg, + wopof, pore.] An extensive genus of 
lizards of the family Iguanidte: so called from 
the femoral pores. The best-known is the common 
brown fence-lizard of the United states, S. ttndvlatus. 
Seelio famelicHS. 
a, female ; *, her antenna. (Line sho 
natural size.) 
scelidosaurian (sel'i-do-sa'ri-an), a. and w. I. 
it. Of or pertaining to the Scetldosauridse. 
II. H. A member of the Scelidosauridee. 
Scelidosauridae (sel*i-d6-sa'ri-de), n.pl. [NL., 
< Seelidngaunts + -/rfa>.] A family of mailed 
or stegosaurian herbivorous dinosaurs with 
separate astragalus, elongate metatarsals, and 
four functional digits of the pes, typified by 
the genus Scelidosaurua. Other genera are 
Jcanthopholis, Polacnntlnis, Hyleeosaurus, etc. 
scelidosauroid (sel'i-do-sa'roi'd), a. and n. [< 
Scelidosaunis + -oirf.] 1. a. Of, or having char- 
acters of, the Scelidosauridm. 
- / *J If ' "II *"! V/4 O\JW-Vtl tCO 
(ska zonz, ska-zon'tez). [L.,< Gr. mdfuv, limp- 
ing, hobbling, ppr. of ma&iv, limp, halt.] In 
nue. pros., a meter the rhythm of which is im- 
perfect toward the close of the line or period. 
The name is especially given to two meters (o) a trochaic 
tetrameter catalectic, the next to the last time or syllable 
of which is a long instead of the normal short, and (6) an 
iambic trimeter with a similar peculiarity. This is com- 
monly known as a choliamb, and if the last four times of 
such a line are all long, it is said to be inchiorrhogic Both 
scazons are sometimes described us Hippmiactean. Meters 
cal genus of Seelidogauridx. 
scelidothere (sel'i-do-ther), . A gigantic ex- 
tinct edentate of the genus Scelidotlicrimn. 
The length of skull of the scelidothere must have been 
not less than two feet. Owen. 
Scelidotherium (sel'i-do-the'ri-um), . [NL., 
< Gr. CKC'/ l( (-'-). leg. + 8>/piov, a wild beast.] Age- 
nus of megatherioid edentate mammals founded 
by Owen in 1840 upon remains of a species called 
.s 1 . leptocephahH*, from the Pleistocene of Pata- 
gonia. The genus contains a number of species whose 
characters are intermediate in some respects between those 
of Megatherium and those of Mylodon. 
Scelio (se'li-6). n. [NL. (Latreille, 1804).] A 
notable genus of parasitic insects of the hyme- 
Fence-lizard (Sctloporus undulatus). 
Many others inhabit different parts of the West They 
are of small size (a few inches long) and of moderately 
stout form, with a long slender fragile tail ; the upper 
parts are undulated and mottled with black, brown, 
and gray, very variable in shade and pattern, and there 
is a patch of vivid blue on each side of the belly. They 
are quite harmless, are very active, and feed upon in- 
sects. 
scelp (skelp), n. In gun-making, one of several 
long strips of iron or steel used in welding up 
and forming a gun-barrel. These strips are twisted 
Into spirals, then welded together at their margins, and 
well hammered while hot to close all fissures. The bar- 
rel Is subsequently hammered cold on a mandrel and then 
bored. Also skelp. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 219. 
scemando (she-man'do). [It., ppr. of scemare, 
diminish.] In music, 'same as diminuendo. 
scena (se'na), n. ; L. pi. scense (-ne). [L. (and 
It.): see scene.'} 1. The stage of an ancient 
theater, including the permanent architectural 
front behind the stage platform and facing the 
audience in the Roman and later Greek theater. 
2 (It.pron. sha'na; p\.scenc (-ne)). Inmtisic: 
(a) In an opera, a scene. (6) An elaborate dra- 
matic solo, similar to an operatic scene for a 
single performer, usually consisting largely of 
recitative or semi-recitative. 
Scenario (she-na'ri-o), n. [It. : see scenery.] 
1. A skeleton libretto of a dramatic work, giv- 
ing the general movement of the plot and the 
successive appearances of the principal charac- 
ters. 2. The plot itself of such a work. 
scend (send), . [A misspelling of send, simu- 
lating ascend."] Upward angular displacement 
of the hull of a vessel measured in a longi- 
tudinal vertical plane at right angles with and 
on either side of a horizontal transverse axis 
passing through the center of notation. The 
term is a correlative of pitM, 13, and the two words 
are generally used together in discussions of the princi- 
ples of motion and stability of ships: as, the pitch and 
scend of a vessel, meaning thereby the longitudinal rock- 
ing motion of a ship about the transverse axis passing 
through the center of flotation, of which motion the pitch 
and the scend separately considered are equal but oppo- 
site elements. 
scene (sen), n. [Also in earlier use, as L., ,$<< mi. 
stsena ; = Dan. xceue = Sw. sren, < OF. scene, 
F. scene = Sp. escenn = Pg. It. scena, < L. xecii. 
scaena, scene, stage, = OBulg. skini/a, a tent, 
< Gr. aiafirfj, a tent, stage, scene, akin to OKIO, 
shadow, and from the same root as E. sluidt. 
xlindote: see shade, shadow.'} 1. A stage; the 
place where dramatic pieces and other shows 
are performed or exhibited ; that part of a thea- 
ter in which the acting is done. 
