scurfy 
Covered with scurf ; exfoliating in small scales ; 
scurvy; scabby. 2. Resembling or consisting 
of scurf Scurfy scale. See scalei. 
scurget, and r. An obsolete spelling of 
scurrer (skfer'er), . [Sc. ulso or formerly scur- 
roin; skuiiriitiii: skurrioiir; a var. of scourer 2 . 
The word seems to have been confused with 
F. courriir, E. courier, etc.] One who scours; a 
scout. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
And he sente for the seurrers to aduyse the dealynge of 
their ennemyes, and to se where they were, and what 
nombre they were of. 
llerners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. xxxin. 
scurrii, scurrile (skur'il), a. [Early mod. E. 
also seurrill. skurril; = It. scurrile, < L. W/I/TI- 
lis, buffoon-like, < scurra, a buffoon. Cf . worn.] 
Befitting a vulgar jester; grossly opprobrious ; 
scurrilous; low: as, scurrii scoffing; scurrii 
taunts. 
Flatter not greatnesse with your seurrill praise. 
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. 8.), p. 136. 
This, in your scurrii dialect ; but my inn 
Knows no such language. Ii. Jonson, New Inn, 1. 1. 
Their wits indeed serve them to that sole purpose, to 
make sport, to break a scurrile jest. 
Burton, Auat. of Mel., p. 208. 
It had bin plainly partiall, first, to correct him for grave 
Cicero, and not for seurrill Plautus. 
Milton, Areopagitica, p. 15. 
"Bring the unfortunate girl to her father's, and break no 
scurrii Jests here," said the Sub-Prior. 
Scott, Monastery, xxxiv. 
scurrility (sku-ril'i-ti), . [Early mod. E. also 
skurrillity; < F. scurrilite = Pr. scurttitat It. 
xciifi-ilita, < L. scurrilita(t-)s, < scurrilis, scurrii : 
see scurrii.] 1. The quality of being scurrii 
or scurrilous; low, vile, buffoon-like scoffing 
or jeering ; indecent or gross abusiveness or 
railing; vulgar, indecent, or abusive language. 
Yet will ye see in many cases how pleasant speeches 
and sauouring some skurrillity and vnshamefastnes haue 
now and then a certaine decencie, and well become both 
the speaker to say, and the hearer to abide. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 221. 
So it shall please you to abrogate scurrility. 
Shak., L. L. L.,iv.2. 65. 
2. A scurrilous remark, attack, or outburst; 
an abusive tirade. 
Buttons, altogether applying their wits to SmrrUKties 
A other ridiculous matters. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 50. 
I loathed scurrilities in conversation, and had a natural 
aversion to immoderate drinking. 
T. EUwood, Life (ed. Howells), p. 185. 
scurrilous (skur'i-lus), a. [< scurrii + -ous.] 
1. Using or given to the use of low and inde- 
cent language; scurrii; indecently or grossly 
abusive or railing. 
One would suspect him [John Standish] not the same 
man called by Bale a scurrillmus fool, and admired by Pits 
for piety and learning, jealous lest another man should be 
more wise to salvation than himself. 
Fuller, Worthies, Lancashire, II. 203. 
Though a fierce, unscrupulous, and singularly scurrilous 
political writer, he [Swift] was not, in the general charac- 
ter of his politics, a violent man. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., i. 
2. Containing low indecency or abuse; foul; 
vile: as, scurrilous language. 
He is ever merry, but still modest; not dissolved into 
undecent laughter, or tickled with wit scurrilous or inju- 
rious. Hahinrjton, Castara, iii. 
A companion that is cheerful, and free from swearing 
and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. 
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 87. 
3. Opprobrious ; abusive ; offensive. 
How often do we see a person, whose intentions are visi- 
bly to do good by the works he publishes, treated in as 
scurrilous a manner as if he were an enemy to mankind ! 
Addison, Freeholder, No. 40. 
= Syn. Ribald, blackguard, indecent, coarse, vulgar, 
gross. 
scurrilously (skur'i-lus-li), adv. In a scurri- 
lous manner; with scurrility. 
He spoke so scurrilously of you. I had no patience to 
hear him. Wycherley, Country Wife, ii. 1. 
scurrilousness (skur'i-lns-nes), n. Scurrilous 
character; indecency of language or manners; 
scurrility. Bailey. 
scurry (skur'i), v. i. ; pret. and pp. scurricil, 
ppr. xcurryiii;/. [Also skurry ; an extended form 
of scur or the orig. scour%, perhaps due in part 
to skurriour and similar forms of scurrer, and 
in part to association with hurry, as in hun'i/- 
scurry.] To hurry along; move hastily and 
precipitately ; scamper. 
of the Nu- 
scutcher 
s of the wind in those The famous sentaije, the acceptance of a money compo- 
y across smooth water sitiou for military service, dates from this time 0.168). 
/,-,.; study Windows, p. 42. E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 461. 
(skur'i), n. ; pi. scurries (-iz). [Also scutal (sku'tal), a. [< NL. "seutalis, < L. scu- 
; < scurry, v.] 1. Hurry; fluttering or turn, a shield: see scutum.] In zoiil., of the na- 
bustling haste. 2. A flurry. ture of or pertaining to a scute ; in entom., spe- 
The birds circled overhead, or dropped like thick mir- cifically, of or pertaining to the scutum of any 
nes of snow-flakes on the water. segment of the notuni. 
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 30T,. gcuta t e (sku'tat), a. [< NL. scutatus, shield- 
3. In simrtiii!/, a short race run for amusement shaped (L. scutatus, armed with a shield), < L. 
by inferior horses or non-winners. Krik's scutum, a shield: see scute*.] 1. In zool.-. (a) 
Gniitf to the Turf. 
scurvily (sker' vi-li), adv. In a scurvy manner ; 
meanly; shabbily. 
How scurvily thou criest now, like a drunkard ! 
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, i. 2. 
When I drew out the mony, he return'd It as scurvily 
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 2, 1641. 
scurviness (sker'vi-nes), . Scurvy character; 
meanness; baseness; shabbiness. Bailey. 
Provided with scutes, shields, plates, or large 
scales; squamate; squamous; scaly; scutel- 
late. (6) Resembling a scute or shield; broad 
and somewhat convex. 2. In bot., formed like 
an ancient round buckler: as, a scutate leaf. 
See cut under peltate Scutate tarsus, in entom.: 
(a) A tarsus in which a single joint is dilated so as to form 
a broad plate. (6) A tarsus covered with large flat scales, 
as in the genus Lepisma. 
scurvy* (sker'vi), , [< ME'^^. of * iS^tWtemV. [X JUj-J 
scurfy (with the usual change of/ to <>, as m ^^ game ^ s j ltiform . 
wife, wives, etc.): see scurfy. . he ng. t jj (skuch), v. t. [Prob. < OF. escousser, -*- 
senses 2, 3, cf. scabby, shabby, in like uses.] 1. 8CU ? ^^ shake swim?, shake off. stri 
Scurfy; covered or affected with scurf or scabs ; 
scabby ; diseased with scurvy ; scorbutic. 
Whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, ... or be 
scurvy or scabbed, 
bread of his God. 
, .. 
he shall not come nigh to offer the 
Lev. rri. 20. 
2. Vile; mean; low; vulgar; worthless; con- 
temptible ; paltry ; shabby ; as, a scurvy fellow. 
A very scurvy tune to sing at a man's funeral. 
Shak., Tempest, ii. 2. 46. 
"Twas but a little scurvy white money, hang it ! 
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1. 
While we lay at Tabago, we had like to have had a 
xcurvy trick plaid us by a pretended Merchant from 
Panama, who came, as by stealth, to traffick with us pri- 
vately. Dumpier, Voyages, 1. 188. 
3. Offensive; mischievous; malicious. 
Nay, but he prated, 
cosser, escoucer, shake, swing, shake off, strip, < 
LL. excussare, shake frequently or much, freq. of 
excutere, shake off: see excuss, and cf. rescous, 
rescue, from the same L. source, with an added 
prefix. Cf. scutcher. The word may have been 
confused with forms allied to Norw. skoka,skoko, 
skuka, a swingle for beating flax, or Sw. ska'kta, 
swingle, prob. akin to E. shake, shock. Not relat- 
ed to scotch?.] 1. To beat; drub. [Old Eng. and 
Scotch.] 2. To dress (fibrous material) by 
beating. The particles of woody matter adhering to the 
fibers are detached, and the bast is partially separated into 
its constituent fibers. The waste fiber obtained is called 
scutching-taw or cedilla. Specifically (a) In flax-manuf., 
to beat off and separate the woody parts of, as the stalks 
of flax; swingle: as, to scutch flax, (b) In cotton-manuf., 
to separate, as the individual fibers after they have been 
loosened and cleansed, (c) In silk-manuf., to disentangle, 
straighten, and cut into lengths, as floss and refuse silk. 
Same as 
tow that 
scurvy-' 
scuruey; appar. abbr. of scurvy disease or some scutch-blade (skuch'blad)', n. Apiece of hard, 
similar phrase ; prob. confused also with SCOT- tough wood used in beating flax. 
bute, ML. scorbutiis : see scorbute.] A disease scu tcn.eon(skuch'on),. [Formerly alsoscwte/i- 
usually presenting swollen, spongy, easily ion ^ scu fcMn; < ME. scotchyiie, scochone, by 
bleeding gums, fibrinous effusion into some of apheresis from esc(ic/ieon.- see escutcheon.] 1. 
the muscles, rendering them hard and brawny, A shield for armorial bearings ; an emblazoned 
hemorrhages beneath the skin, rheumatoid ghield ; an escutcheon, 
pains, anemia, and prostration. It occurs at all 
ages and in all climates, and usually develops in those em- 
ploying an unvaried diet, especially one from which vege- 
tables are excluded. Also called scorbutus. Button- 
scurvy, an epidemic of cachectic disease observed in the 
south of Ireland, characterized by button-like excrescences 
on the skin. Land-scuryy, purpura. 
SCUrvy-grass (sker'vi-gras), n. [A corruption 
Scotchyne (var. scochone). 
Scutellum. 
Prompt. Pan., p. 44. 
I saw the monument of the Cardinall of Bourbon, and 
his statue very curiously made over it in Cardinals habites 
with his armes and scutchin. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 48, sig. D. 
They haue no Scutehions or blazing of Armes. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 294. 
of scurvu-cress, so named because used as a cure ,. ., , . 
f. ,,,.l 1 A ^rumfnrnns nlflnt Cnfhlf ariii 2. In medieval arch., etc., a shield or plate on a 
tor scurvy. J 1. A crucileroub plant, oo P pr,ter of which huns the door- 
offieinalis, of northern and western Europe and door trom tne cei w , me V. J . ,,"",, ' 
arctic America : an antiscorbutic and salad h " le y '" 
plant. Locally called scrooby- or scruby-grass. 
A woman crying, "Buy any scurvy-grass?" 
Middletonand Dekker, Roaring Girl, iii. 2. 
2. One of the winter cresses, Sarbarea preecox, 
a European plant cultivated as a winter salad, 
becoming wild in parts of the United States. 
scuse (skus), n. and v. [By apheresis from ex- 
cuse.] Same as excuse. 
Yea, Custance, better (they say) a badde scuse than none. 
... I will the truthe know een as it is. 
Ifdall, Roister Doister, v. 2. 
That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts. 
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 444. 
scut 1 (skut), a. [Perhaps a mixture of cut, 
cutty, short, 'with short (AS. sceort), and further scutcher (skuch'er), . [< OF. esconsso 
with isc*2, .] Short, as a garment, etc. Balli- ^^, < escousser, shake, beat: see scutch. 
Eivoted at the top, so as to drop over the key- 
ole by its weight. A sliding scutcheon is call- 
ed a sheave. 4. A plate for an inscription, es- 
pecially a small one for a name, as on a knife or 
a walking-stick. 5. In her., same as escutch- 
eon, 1. 
SCUtcheoned (skuch'ond), a. Emblazoned; or- 
namented or surmounted by a scutcheon or em- 
blazoned shield. 
The scutcheon'd emblems which it bore. 
Scott, Bridal of Triermain, iii. 15. 
Far off her lover sleeps as still 
Within his scuteheoned tomb. 
WMttier, The Countess. 
[< OF. escoussour, a 
] 1. 
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 882. 
well. [Prov. Eng.] 
SCUt 2 (skut), n. [Also skut; appar. < scut 1 , a., 
but perhaps confused with Icel. skott, a fox's 
tail (see scuff), or ult. = L. cauda = W. cwt, a 
tail (with orig. initial s).] 1. A short tail, as 
that of the rabbit or deer. 
My doe with the black scut ! 
Shak., M. W. of W., v. 5. 20. 
Watch came, with his little scut of a tail cocked as sharp 
as duty. R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xlii. 
2. In her., the tail, as of a cony: used only 
when the tail is of a different tincture from the 
rest. 
scuta, . Plural of scutum. 
SCUtage (sku'taj), H. [< ML. scutagium, < OF. 
i-nniai/e (> E. eseuage: see eseuage), F. ecuage; 
(a) A tax on a knight's fee or scutum: same 
as eseuage. (b) A commutation for personal 
service. 
Scutching-machine or Scutcher for Flax. 
a feed-table on which the flax is fed to the fluted rollers , ', 
which seize it and present it to the scutches or beaters f. fastened by 
supports rf to the rotating (imm f. The latter revolves in a case/, 
with a grating at the bottom. The feed-rolls are driven by gearing i. 
