Scopelidse 
Incompletely developed, no barbels, gill-openings very 
wiilL% pseudobranchiK well developed, no air-bladder, adi- 
pose tin present, pyloric appendages few or absent, and 
eggs inclosed hi the sacs of the ovarium and excluded by 
an oviduct. (6) By Oill restricted to Inioraous fishes with 
the supramaxillaries elongate, slender, and separate from 
the intermaxillaries, which alone form the margin of the 
upper jaw, the dorsal flu occupying the middle of the 
length, and short or of moderate extent, and with an 
adipose fin ; the body is generally covered with scales, and 
phosphorescent spots are usually developed. The mouth 
is very wide, and when these fishes were brought near or 
among the Salmunidse they were sometimes called ^ride- 
mouthed salmon. The genera are more than 10, and the 
species over 60, mostly inhabiting deep water. 
scopeliform (skop'e-li-form), a. [< NL. Sco- 
pelit* + L. forma, form.] Having the form or 
character of the Scnpelidse ; scopeloid. 
Scopelinae (skop-e-H'ue), . ]>l. [NL., < Scope- 
In.-; + -<*.] The Scopelidx, in the narrowest 
sense, ranked as a subfamily. 
scopeline (skop'e-lin), a. [< Scopelus + -j'ne 1 .] 
Of or relating to the Scopelinse ; seopeloid. 
scopeloid (skop'e-loid), a. and n. [< Scopelus 
+ -old.'] I. a. Of or relating to the Scopelidx. 
II. n. A member of the Scopelidx. 
Scopelus (skop'e-lus), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), 
< Gr. o-KOJn/.of, a high rock : see scopulous.] The 
typical genus of Scopelidx. Various limits have 
been assigned to this genus, some authors referring to it 
Scoptlus botps. 
many species which by others are segregated among dif- 
ferent genera. The name is by some authors replaced by 
the older Myctaphum of Raflnesque. 
Scopidae (skop'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scopus + 
-idte.] An African family of altricial wading 
birds, typified by the genus Scopus; the shadow- 
birds, umber-birds, umbers, or umbrettes. They 
are related on the one hand to the storks or CiconiidsB, 
and on the other to the Ardeidx or herons. See cut un- 
der Scopus. 
scopiferous (sko-pif'e-rus), a. [< L. scopa, a 
broom, brush (see scope 2 ), + ferre = E. bear 1 .'] 
Brushy; having a tuft or tufts of hair; scopu- 
liferous, as an insect. 
scopiform (sko'pi-f orm), a. [< L. scopa, a broom, 
brush, + forma, form.] Broom-shaped; hav- 
ing the form of a broom or brush ; scopuliform ; 
scopulate. Kirwan. Also scoparious. 
scopioust (sko'pi-us), a. [< scope 3 + -i-ous.] 
Scopeful; spacious. [Rare.] 
Until their full-stuft gorge a passage makes 
Into the wide maws of more scopious lakes. 
Middleton, Micrc-Cynicon, 1. 4. 
scopiped (sko'pi-ped), a. and . [< L. scopa, a 
broom, brush, + pes (ped-) = E. foot.] In en- 
tom., same as scopuliped. 
scopperil (skop'e-ril), n. [Also scopperill, scop- 
pcrell, < ME. scoperelle; < Icel. skoppa, spin like 
a top (skoppara-kringla, atop).] 1. A top; a 
teetotum. 2. The bone foundation of a but- 
ton. [Prov. Eng.] 
scoppett (skop'et), v. t. [Appar. < "scoppet, n., 
same as scuppet, n., dim. of scoop: see scoop, 
acopel, and scuppet.] To lade out. 
Vain man ! can he possibly hope to scoppet it (the chan- 
nel] out so fast as it mis? Bp. Hall, Sermon on Ps. Ix. 2. 
Scops (skops), n. [NL., < Gr. O-KUI/;, a small owl, 
prob. the little horned owl. In the earlier use 
(def. 1) perhaps intended, like Scopus, to re- 
fer to Gr. aKid, shadow.] If. An old genus name 
of the African cranes now called Anthropoides. 
Moehring, 1752. 2. A genus of Strigidee, the 
screech-owls, characterized by small size and 
the presence of plumicorns. (Brunnicli, 1772.) 
There are numerous species, of most countries. The 
European species is 5. yiu; the United States species is 
5. agio, the common gray, red, or mottled owl, of which 
there are many varieties. These form a section now called 
Meyascops. See red owl, under redl. 
3. [/. c.] An owl of this genus; a scops-owl. 
scops-owl (skops'oul), . A scops, especially 
the small scops of Europe, Scops giu. Yarrelt. 
scoptic (skop'tik), a. [< Gr. oxoirrutAf, given to 
mockery, < OKUTTTMV, mock, jest: see seomm.] 
Mocking; scoffing. 
Lucian and other scoptick wits. 
Bp. Ward, Sermons (1670X p. 57. 
scopticalt (skop'ti-kal), a. [< scoptic + -al.] 
Same as scoptic. 
Another most ingenious and spritefull imitation ... I 
must needs note here, because it flies all his Translators 
and Interpreters, who take it meerely for serious, when it 
is apparently scopticall and ridiculous. 
Chapman, Iliad, xvi.,Com. 
6407 
None but the professed quack, or mountebank, avowedly 
brings the zany upon the stage with him : such undoubt- 
edly is this sceptical humour. 
Hammond, Works, II. 167. (Latham.) 
SCOpticallyt (skop'ti-kal-i), adv. Mockingly; 
scoffingly. 
Homer (speaking scoptically) hreakes open the fountaine 
of his ridiculous humour. Chapman, Iliad, ii., Com. 
scopula (skop'u-la), n.; p\. scapula (-lo). [NL.,< 
L. scopitlee, a little broom, dim. of scopa, scopes, 
a broom: see scopa, scope 2 .] 1. In entom.: (a) 
A small scopa or brush-like organ. Specifically 
(1) A series of bristles or bristly hairs on the tarsi (usually 
the hind tarsi) of certain hymenopterous insects. These 
are well marked on the first joint of the hind tarsi of 
honey-bees, forming a part of the corbiculum. (See cut un- 
der corbiculum.) The drones of honey-bees and the para- 
sitic bees have scopula}, not for pollen-bearing, but for 
cleansing the body. These are called brmhlets, and a group 
of solitary bees is named Seopulipedes from this character. 
A bee's leg so furnished is said to be scopulate. (2) A simi- 
lar brush of stiff hairs on the legs of many spiders. In this 
case the scopula is usually on the under side of the tarsus, 
sometimes on the metatarsus, rarely also on the tibia. 
(b) [cap.] A genus of pyralid moths. Schrank, 
1802. 2. In sponges, a fork- or broom-shaped 
spicule, consisting of a long axial shaft to the 
distal end of which generally four slender rays 
are attached. 
scopularia 1 (skop-u-la'ri-a), n. ; pi. scopularies 
(-e). [NL., < L. scopulee, a little broom: see 
scapula.] In Sollas's nomenclature of sponge- 
spicules, a scopulate or besom-shaped spicule 
with tylolate or knobbed rays which vary in 
number from two to eight; a scopula. 
Scopularia 2 (skop-u-la'ri-a), H. pi. [NL., < L. 
scopulee, a little broom: see scopula.] In Sol- 
la,s's classification of sponges, a tribe of dictyo- 
nine hexactinellidan Silicispongise, haying un- 
cinate spicules in the form of scopularise. it is 
divided into 5 families Euretidse, MelKliomi.se, Chonelas- 
matidse, Volvulinidx, and Sclerothamnidfe. 
scopularian (skop-u-la'ri-an), a. [< scopularia 
+ -an.] Of or pertaining to the Scopularia. 
scopulate (skop'u-lat), a. [< NL. "scopulatus, 
< L. scopulee, a little broom: see scopula.] 1. 
Broom-shaped; scopiform or scopuliform. 2. 
Having a scopula, as the leg of a bee. 
scopuliform (skop'u-li-form), . [< L. scopulee, 
a little broom, + forma, form.] Shaped like a 
broom; scopulate in form; scopiform. 
scopuliped (skop'u-li-ped), a. and n. [< L. 
scopulie, a little broom, + pes (ped-) = E. foot.] 
I. a. Having brushy feet : specifically applied 
to a group of solitary bees. 
II. . A member of the Seopulipedes. 
Also scopiped. 
Seopulipedes (skop-ii-lip'e-dez), n. pi. [NL. : 
see scopuliped.] In Latreille's classification, a 
group of solitary bees: so named from the 
thick coating of hairs of the hind legs. It in- 
cludes such genera as Eucera, Anthophora, and 
Centris. Also Scopulipedina. 
scopuloust (skop'u-lus), a. [< L. scopulosus, full 
of rocks, rooky, < scapulas, < Gr. anAiref.os, a high 
rock, cliff, promontory ; perhaps orig. a look- 
out, < oA-oirdf, a lookout: see scope 3 .] Full of 
rocks; rocky. Bailey, 1731. 
Scopus (sko'pus), n. [NL. (Brisson, 1760), de- 
rived by the namer < Gr. mia, shadow, with ref . 
to its somber color. ] The only genus of Scopidse. 
S. umbretta, the shadow.bird, is the only species. The 
cnlmen is carinate, high at the base and hooked at the 
tip ; the sides of the bill are compressed and grooved 
throughout; the long gonys ascends ; the nostrils have a 
Sha.low-bird or Umbrette (SccpHS utubrtn^. 
MK'inbranous opercle; the tarsus is reticulate; the toes 
are webbed at the base ; the middle claw is pectinate ; 
there are intrinsic syringed muscles, and two cseca ; the 
plumage lacks pulviplnmes, is of somber color, and pre- 
sents an occipital crest. 
scorch 
scorbutet (skdr'but), n. [< F. scorbut, OF. scor- 
biit, scitrbut = Sp. Pg. cacorbitto = It. scorbuto 
(LG. scorbut), < ML. scorbutus, scorbatus, Latin- 
ized form of MLG. scltorbiik, LG. scliorbock, 
scharbock, scharbuuk = MD. schoi-buyck, scJieur- 
buyck, D. sehe.urbuik = G. scharbock, scurvy, 
tartar on the teeth, = Dan. skorbug = Sw. 
skorbjugg, scurvy; appar., from the form, orig. 
'rupture of the belly,' < MD. scltoren, gclieun n. 
tear, rupture, scliore, scheure (D. scheur), a cleft, 
rupture, + b-uyck (D. btiik = G. bauch), belly 
(see 6oi(A-i, bulk*-); but the second element is 
uncertain.] Scurvy. See scurry-. 
The Scorbute so weakened their men that they were not 
able to hoise out their boats, except in the Generalls ship, 
whose men (drinking euery morning three spoonefuls of 
the iuice of Unions) were healthful!. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 692. 
scorbutic (skor-bu'tik), a. and n. [< F. scorbu- 
tique = Sp. escorbutico = Pg. escorbutico = It. 
scorbutico, < NL. *scorbuticus, < ML. scorbutus, 
scurvy: see scorbutc.] I. a. 1. Pertainingto or 
of the nature of scurvy. 2. Affected, tainted, 
or diseased with scurvy ; suffering from scurvy : 
as, scorbutic persons. 
Violent purging hurts scorbutic constitutions. 
Arbuthnot. 
Scorbutic dysentery, a form of dysentery which affects 
those having scurvy. Scorbutic fever, a name given to 
the febrile condition seen in some cases of scurvy. 
II. H. A person affected with scurvy. 
scorbuticalt (skor-bu'ti-kal), a. [< scorbutic + 
-al.] Same as scorbutic. Bailey. 
SCOrbutically (skQr-bu'ti-kal-i), adi: With the 
scurvy, or with a tendency to it. 
A woman . . . scorbutically and hydropically affected. 
Wiseman, Surgery. 
scorbutus (skor'bu-tus), H. [ML. : see scorbnte.] 
Same as scurvy*. 
scorcet, . See eeovrge*. 
scorch (skorch), v. [< ME. scorclien, scorgeii, 
scliorchen, scrochen, scorch ; prob. an assibilated 
form of *scorken, in other forms scorclen, scor- 
klen, skorclen, scorkelen, scorcneii, scorch, prob. 
orig. shrink, < Norw. skrokkna, shrivel, Sw. dial. 
skrakkla, wrinkle: see shrug, shrink. The mean- 
ing does not suit the usual derivation < OF. 
escorcher, escorcer, flay, skin, F. ecorcher, ecor- 
cer, flay, skin, fig. rasp, grate, fleece, = Sp. 
Pg. escorchar = It. scorticare, flay, < ML. excor- 
ticarc, also, after Rom., scorticare, strip off the 
bark or rind, shell, flay: see excorticate. The 
sense 'skin, flay' does not appear in the E. 
word, and the sense 'scorch' does not appear 
in the OF. word.] I. trans. 1. To burn super- 
ficially; subject to a degree of heat that changes 
the color, or both the color and the texture, of 
the surface; parch or shrivel up the surface of 
by heat ; singe. 
What Gaffray with long toth thy son hath don ! 
A hundred monkes scroched and brend plain. 
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3551. 
So Deuly ther came ow t of the Chirche wall with in forth, 
ny ther the Sowdon was, an howge gret Serpent that ranne 
endlong vpon the ryght Syde of the Chirche wall, and 
scorged the seyd wall as it had be sengid with fyer all the 
wey that he wente, whyche schorchyng ys sene in to thys 
Day. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 47. 
Summer drouth or singed air 
Never scorch thy tresses fair. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 929. 
2. To burn or consume, as by the direct appli- 
cation of fire. 
He made cast her in to the riuer, and drenche her and 
her childe, and made to scorche the knight quicke [alive). 
Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry, p. 6. 
I rave, 
And, like a giddy bird in dead of night 
Fly round the fire that scorches me to death. 
Dryden. 
3. To give the sensation of burning; affect with 
a sensation or an effect similar to that produced 
by burning ; figuratively, to attack with caustic 
invective or sarcasm. 
The corns of the ordinarie wheat Trlticum, being parched 
or rosted upon a red hot yron, are a present remedie for 
those who are scorched and sindged with nipping cold. 
Holland, Pliny, xxii. 25. (Hichardson, under singe.) 
To begin an economic discussion by scorching one's 
opponent with "moral indignation,' seems a womanish 
rather than a scientific mode of procedure. 
A". A. Rev., CXLII. 527. 
= Syn. 1. Scorch, Singe, Sear, Char, Parch. To scorch is to 
burn superficially or slightly, but so as to change the color 
or injure the texture ; sometimes, from the common effect 
of heat, the word suggests shriveling or curling, but not 
generally. Singe is one degree more external than scorch; 
we speak of xinyeiny the hair and scorching the skin ; a 
fowl is singed to remove the hairs after plucking out the 
feathers. Sear has primary reference to drying, but more 
commonly to hardening, by heat, as by cauterization ; 
hence its figurative use, as when we speak of seared sensi- 
bilities, a seared conscience, heat not being thought of as 
