scruff 
The nape of the neck; the nape : tech- 
nically, the iiueha or cervix. 
He 's what I call a real gentleman. He says if I ever go 
to him tipsy to draw, and says it quite solemn like, hell 
take me by the sent/ of the neck and kick me out. 
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor. II. 335. 
"She'd take your honour's scruf." said he, 
"And pitch you over to Belong." 
If. S. Gilbert, Babette's Love. 
scruffy (skruf i),n. [Avar.ofscM//tf; cf. scruff 1 .] 
Same as scurf;/. [Obsolete or colloq.] 
The serpent goes to f enell when he would clear his sight. 
or cast off his old scru/y skin to wear a new one. 
Homll. Parly of Beasts, p. 70. (Davieg.) 
The sheep fin South Africa] becomes scruffy and ema- 
ciated. U. S. Cane. Hep., No. Iviii. (1885), p. 150. 
scrummage (skrum'aj). . Same as scrimmage. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
scrumptious (skrump'shns), n. [Perhaps < 
"ttcrumpti(on) for tenmptUon) + -ous, simu- 
lating a L. origin.] 1. Fine; nice: particu- 
lar; fastidious. [Slang.] 
Times are mopish and nurly. I don't mean to be 
ttrrwnptioug about it, Judge ; but 1 do want to be a man. 
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 7. 
He thought his 'best hat" would be "more scrump- 
tious," and he shuffled off to bring it, 
The Century, XXXVIII. 573. 
2. Delightful; first-rate: as, scrumptious wea- 
ther. [Slang.] 
And we've got all the farther end of the wing down 
stairs the garden bedrooms ; you've no idea how scrump- 
tious it is ! .!/.-. Whitney, Leslie Ooldthwaite, vi. 
scrunch (skrunch), r. [A var. of scrunch, 
scraitiieh, nit., with unorig. prefixed s-, of 
rraunch, crunch : see scrunch, crauncli, crunch.] 
1. trans. 1. To crush, as with the teeth; crunch; 
lience, to grind or keep down. [Colloq.] 
It's the same . . . with the footmen. I have found 
out that you must either scrunch them or let them scrunch 
you. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iii. 5. 
2. To squeeze; crush. [Colloq.] 
I packed my shirt and coat, which was a pretty good 
one, right over my ears, and then scruntched myself into a 
door-way, and the policeman passed by four or five times 
without seeing on me. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 560. 
II. intrants. To crunch; make a crushing, 
crunching noise. [Colloq.] 
We boys clapped our hands and shouted, " Hurrah for 
old Heber! " as his load of magnificent oak, well-bearded 
with gray moss, came scrunching into the yard. 
H. B. Stoice, Oldtown, p. 480. 
scrunch (skrunch), ti. [< scrunch, '.] A harsh, 
crunching sound. [Colloq.] 
At each step there is a scrunch of human bones. 
Fortnightly fiev., N. 8., XLIII. 627. 
Scruple 1 (skro'pl), ii. [< OF. "scruple, scrupult, 
F. scrtipttle = Sp. escrupulo = Pg. escrupulo, 
cscrupolo = It. scrupolo, serupulo = D. scrupel 
= G. Dan. Sw. skritpel, a scruple of conscience, 
in OF. and Olt. also lit. a sharp stone, < L. scru- 
pulus, uneasiness of mind, trouble, anxiety, 
doubt, scruple, lit. a small rough or sharp stone 
(so only in a LL. grammarian), dim. of scru- 
puy, a rough or sharp stone, also fig. anxiety, 
doubt, scruple; cf. Gr. ani<pm;, chippings of 
stone, vp<ii>, a razor, = Skt. Icshitra, a razor. 
Cf. scruple^.] Perplexity, trouble, or uneasi- 
ness of conscience; hesitation or reluctance 
in acting, arising from inability to satisfy con- 
science, or from the difficulty of determining 
what is right or expedient; doubt; backward- 
ness in deciding or acting. 
Amongest Christians there is no warre so justified but 
in the same remayneth gome scruple. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 67. 
I have only err'd, but not 
With the least scruple of thy faith and honour 
To me. Shirley, Traitor, i. 1. 
A man without truth or humanity may have some strange 
scruples about a trifle. Macmday, HallHin's Const. Hist. 
To make scruple, to hesitate ; be reluctant on conscien- 
tious grounds ; doubt, or have compunction of conscience. 
Caesar, when he went first into Gaul, made no scruple to 
profess "that he had rather be first in a village than 
second at Rome." 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 342. 
Some such thing 
Cresar make* scruple of, but forbids it not. 
B. Jomon, Sejanus. iv. 5. 
Then said Matthew, I made the scruple because I a 
while since was sick with eating of fruit. 
Bunyaii, Pilgrim's Progress, p. SOB. 
To Stand on scruple, to hesitate on punctilious grounds. 
I had made up my mind to lift up the latch, and to walk 
in freely, as I would have done in most other houses, but 
*tood on scruple with Evan Thomas. 
S. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, vi. 
scruple 1 (skro"pl), r.; pret.andpp.scrMp7<?</,i>pr. 
scrupling. [< scruple*-. .] I. 'intrans. To have 
scruples ; be reluctant as regards action or de- 
5428 
cision; hesitate about doing a thing; doubt; 
especially, to have conscientious doubts. 
But surely neither a father nor a sister will scruple in a 
case of this kind. Scntt, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviii. 
= Syn. Scruple, Hesitate, Water. We miner through ir- 
resolution, and hesitate through fear, if only the fear of 
milking a mistake. Scruple has tended more and more to 
limitation to a reluctance produced by doubt as to the 
right or the propriety of the thing proposed. 
II. trans. To have scruples about; doubt; 
hesitate with regard to; question; especially, 
to have conscientious doubts concerning : chief- 
ly with an infinitive as object (now the only 
common use). 
Some scrupled the warrantable!] ess of the course, seeing 
the major party of the church did not send to the churches 
for advice. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. .'138. 
He [ David] scrupled the killing of Clod's anointed ; Must 
the People therefore scruple to condemn their own anoint- 
ed > V ,vi. Ans. to Salmasius. 
scruple 2 (skro'pl), ii. [< ME. "scruple, 
< OF. "scruple, 'scriple, scrupule, scriptule = 8p. 
escrupulo = Pg. escrupulo, escrupolo = It. scmt- 
polo, scrupulo, Olt. also scrittulo = D. scrupel = 
G. Sw. Dan. skrupel, a scruple (weight or mea- 
sure), < L. scrupulus, generally in neut., scru- 
piilum, more commonly scripiilnni (sometimes 
scriptiilum, xrripflum, as if < scribere, pp. scrip- 
tun, write, like Gr. -/papua, a gram, < ipaifieir, 
write), the smallest division of weight, the 24th 
part of an ounce, a scruple, also the 24th part 
of an uncia of land, the 24th part of an hour, 
any very small measure; usually identified with 
L. scrupulus, a small stone (see scruple 1 ), but 
by gome referred, as ' a part cut off,' directly to 
y xkar, cut : see shear.] 1 . A unit of weight, the 
third part of a dram, being j*j ounce in apothe- 
caries weight, where alone it is now used by 
English-speaking people : this is 20 grains (= 
1.296 grams). With the ancient Romans a scruple 
of capacity. The scruple is denoted now, as anciently, 
by the character 3. 
Wrynge oute the myrte and dense it ; put therein 
A scriple of foil and half a scriple of fyn 
Saffron. Pattadiiu, Husbondrie (E. E. T. s.X p. 69. 
2. A small fraction. Specifically (o) One sixtieth ; 
a minute the expressions first, second, and third scruple 
being used for the first, second, and third power of one 
sixtieth. 
As touching the Longitude of this city, it is 25 Degrees 
and 52 Scruples : and for the Latitude, it is 52 Degrees and 
25 Scruples. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 568. (Daviet.) 
(6) Eighteen seconds of time. 
Sir Christopher Heydon, the last great champion of this 
occult science [astrology], boasted of possessing a watch 
so exact in its movements that it would give him with un- 
erring precision, not the minute only, but the very scruple 
of time. Southey, The Doctor, Ixnm. 
() One twelfth of an inch ; a line, (d) One tenth of a geo- 
metrical inch. ('0 A digit ; the twelfth part of the sun's 
or moon's diameter. 
Hence, figuratively 3. A small part; a little 
of anything, chiefly in negative phrases: some- 
times confused with scruple 1 . 
Nature never lends 
The smallest scruple of her excellence 
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 
Herself the glory of a creditor. 
Shak., M. forM., i. 1. 38. 
Scruples of emergence. Same as scruples of incidence, 
except that it refers to the end of an eclipse, not the 
beginning. Scruples of half duration, the arc of the 
moon's path from the beginning to the middle of an 
eclipse. The early astronomers also spoke of scrupula 
mora dimidix, being the same thing for the total phase. 
Scruples of Incidence, the arc of the moon's path 
from its beginning to enter the earth's umbra to Its being 
completely within it. 
scruplenesst (skro'pl-nes), w. Scrupulousness. 
Timer. 
scrupler (skro'pler), H. [< scruple' 1 , r., + -er 1 .] 
One who scruples; a doubter; one who hesi- 
tates. 
Away with those nice scruplers. 
Bp. Hall, Remains, p. 295. 
scrupulist (skro'pu-list), . [< L. scrupulus, a 
scruple (see scruple 1 ), + -ist.] One who doubts 
or scruples ; a scrupler. Shaftesbury. [Bare.] 
scrupulize (skro'pu-llz), r. t. and i. ; met. and 
pp. xcrupulized, ppr. scrupulizing. [< L. scru- 
piilus, a scruple, -f -tee.] To scruple. [Bare.] 
Other articles that eyther are or may be so scrupulized. 
Bp. Mountagu, Appeal to Ca;sar, xviii. 
scrupulosity (skro-pu-los'i-ti), n. [< L. scru- 
]>ulosita(t-)s, < scru2>ulosi(S, scrupulous: see 
scrupulous.] Scrupulousness ; especially, over- 
scrupulousness. 
Scrupulous (skro'pu-lus), a. [= D. skruputi'iis 
= G. Sw. Dan. skrupuliis, < OF. (and F.) scru- 
juilciij: = Sp. Pg. escritpitloso = It. scrupoloso, 
< L. si'riipiiloxiix. nice, exact, careful, full of 
scrutine 
scruples, scrupulous, < sn-upiilns, a scruple : we 
xcruiilt' 1 .] 1. Inclined to scruple; hesitating to 
determine or to act ; cautious from a fear of err- 
ing; especially, having scruples of conscience. 
Abusing their liberty and freedom to the offence of their 
weak brethren, which were scrupulous. Hunker. 
For your honest Man, as I take it, is that nice /// 
lous conscientious Person who will cheat no iiody but 
himself. Cong-reve, Double-lX-uk-r. ii. s. 
The Italians we so curious and scrupulous . . . Hut 
they will admit no stranger within the wals . . . except 
he bringeth a bill of health. Coryat, Crudities, I. 73. 
Vet, though scrupulous in most things, it did not go 
against the consciences of these good; brothers to purchase 
smuggled articles. Mrs. Oatkell, Sylvia's Lovers, iii. 
2f. Given to making objections; captious. 
Equality of two domestic powers 
Breeds scrupulous faction. 
Shak., A. andC.,i. :i. I- 
3t. Nice; doubtful. 
If your warre had ben upon Jerusalem, it were to be 
holden for lust, hut for that it is upon Marsillius, al way 
we hold it for scrupulous. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 66. 
4. Exact; precise; rigorous; punctilious. 
William saw that he must not think of paying to the 
laws of Scotland that scrupulous respect which he had 
wisely and righteously paid to the laws of England. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. 
A diligent and scrupulous adherence to approved mod- 
els is, therefore, for most persons, not only the best lesson 
to learn, but the only lesson they are able to learn. 
F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 36. 
Terrace, walks, and flower beds were kept in scrupulous 
order. Froude, Two Chiefs of Dunboy, i. 
scrupulously (skro'pu-lus-li), adv. In a scru- 
pulous manner. 
scrupulousness (skro'pu-lus-nes), w. 1. Scru- 
pulous character or disposition ; conscientious 
regard for duty, truth, propriety, or exactness; 
specifically, regard for or attention to the dic- 
tates of conscience in deciding or acting. 
Others, by their weakness and fear and scrupulousness, 
cannot fully satisfy their own thoughts with that real be- 
nignity which the laws do exhibit 
T. Puller, Moderation of Church of Eng., p. 10. 
2. Punctilious preciseness; exactness; rigor- 
ousness ; punctiliousness. 
The scruptdousness with which he paid public notice, in 
the street, by a bow, a lifting of the hat, a nod, or a mo- 
tion of the hand, to all and sundry his acquaintances, rich 
or poor. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xv. 
SCTUtable (skro'ta-bl), a. [= It. scrutabile, < 
ML. scrutabilis, that may be examined, < L. scru- 
tari, search or examine thoroughly, < scruta = 
Gr.ypirrn: see scrutiny.] Capable of being sub- 
mitted to scrutiny; discoverable by scrutiny, 
inquiry, or critical examination. [Rare.] 
Shall we think God so scrutaUe, or ourselves so pen- 
trating, that none of his secrets can escape us ? 
Decay of Christian Piety. 
scrutation (skrij-ta'shon), . [< L. scruta- 
tio(n-), a searching or examining, < scrutari, pp. 
gcrutatiis, examine or search thoroughly: see 
scrutiny.] Search; scrutiny. [Bare.] 
scrutator (skrij-ta'tor), n. [= F. scrutateur 
Pr.escruptador= Sp. Pg. escrutador = It. scru- 
tatore, < L. scrutator, < scrutari, examine: see 
scrutiny.'] One who scrutinizes; a close exam- 
iner or inquirer; a scrutineer. 
In process of time, from being a simple scrutator, an 
archdeacon became to have jurisdiction more amply. 
Ayliffe, Parergon. 
In order to secure fairness in this examination [for sci- 
entific adviser to one of the great communal councils], 
the Centra] Educational Board of Whitechapel sent down 
two Scrutators, who were required to affirm that they did 
not know any of the candidates even by name. 
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 99. 
scruthing-bag, n . A utensil for straining cider, 
made of plaited meshes or coarse canvas. Hal- 
liwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
scrutinatet (skro'ti-nat), v. t. [< ML. serutina- 
IHX, pp. of scrutinare, scrutinize: see scrutiny.] 
To examine; investigate. 
The whole affair [was] scrutinated by the Court, who 
heard both the prosecution and the defence that was 
made. Roger North, Examen, p. 404. 
scrutin de liste (skrii-tan' de lest). [F., voting 
by list: scrutin, voting, balloting, lit. 'scru- 
tiny'; de, of; liste, list.] A method of voting 
practised at certain recent periods in the elec- 
tions to the French Chamber of Deputies. Each 
elector votes on one ballot for the whole number of depu- 
ties to which his department is entitled, and can choose 
the candidates by writing in the names, or by using the 
party lists (as selected by the party electoral committees), 
with the privilege of making any combination of names 
at his pleasure. The opposite method is the scrutin d'ar- 
rondixMittvitt, in \s hich the arrondissement is the basis of 
representation, and an elector votes only for the candidate 
or candidates of his immediate locality. 
scrutinet, '' ' [< F. xcrutiiicr = It. acrntiiinn . 
< ML. scrutinare, investigate, scrutinize, < LL. 
