S C A 
759 
S C A 
seems to be the same fish which the ancients called by this 
name, is of a mixed blueish and red colour; its scales are 
broad and thin, and it has two transverse protuberances near 
the sides of the tail; its body is rounded, but not very long; 
its teeth are strong and obtuse, and well fitted for their office, 
which is the tearing off the tough sea-herbs from the rocks, 
and chewing them for food; its mouth is but small, and it 
has only one fin on the back, which is prickly; its usual size 
is about five or six inches in length; it is accounted a very 
delicate fish, but is insipid, unless eaten with the guts, and 
all that they contain. The liver and stomach of this fish, 
with its contents, are cooked up by the Greeks into a very 
delicate dish; the epicures among them not regarding the rest 
of the fish. Bel/onius, de Rise. p. 126. 
SCA'RY, 5. Used in some places for barren land, which 
has a poor or thin coat of grass upon it. 
SGASATI, a town in the north-west of the kingdom of 
Naples, in the Terra di Lavore, with 2300 inhabitants. 
SOASCAL, a village of England, in Cumberland, north¬ 
west of Ravenglass. 
SCASWERTH, a village of England, in Nottinghamshire, 
situated near the river Idle, east of Bawtry. 
SCATARELLO, in Ornithology, the name of a small 
bird of the genus Motacilla. 
SCATARI, a small uninhabited Island on the eastern coast 
of Cape Breton island. It is about 6 miles long and 2 broad. 
It serves as a shelter to a bay from the east and south, which 
lies southward of Miray bay, called Menadou, or Panadou 
bay. Lat. 46. 3. N. long. 59. 35. W. It was formerly 
called Little Cape Breton. 
SCATCH, s. [escachc, Fr.] A kind of horsebit for 
bridles. Bailey. 
SCATCH-MOUTH, in the Manage, a bit-mouth, differ¬ 
ing from a canon-mouth in this, that the canon is round, 
whereas a scatch is more upon the oval. That part of the 
scatch-mouth that joins the bit-mouth to the branch, is like¬ 
wise different; a canon being stayed upon the branch by a 
-fonceau, and a scatch by a chaperon, which surrounds the 
banquet. The effect of the scatch-mouth is somewhat greater 
than that of the canon-mouth, and keeps the mouth more in 
subjection. Snaffles are commonly scatch mouths. 
SCA'TCH ES, s. [chasses , Fr.] Stilts to put the feet in to 
walk in dirty places. Bailey. 
SCATE, s. [s/cidor, Swedish; skid, Icel.; schaetse, Teut. 
Scatses was our old word: now usually written skates.'] A 
kind of wooden shoe, with a steel plate underneath, on which 
they slide over the ice.—The nimble Dutchmen on their 
scatses, so long as the ice would bear them, did shoot down 
the French like ducks diving under water; so that it cost 
Luxemberg’s army dear. Carr. 
They sweep 
On sounding skates a thousand different ways, 
In circling poise swift as the winds. Thomson. 
To SCATE, v. n. To slide on scates. 
SCATE, s. [squatus, Lat. skata, Icel. pceabba, Sax. 
shade, Dan.] A fish of the species of thornback.—The 
thornback and the scale. Drayton. — Skate, soals, oysters, 
lobsters. Sir T. Herbert. 
SCA'TEBROUS, adj. [from scatebrw, Lat.] Abound¬ 
ing with springs. Johnson. 
To SCATH, v. a. [M. Goth, skathjan, to hurt; Su. Goth. 
slcada; Sax. pcaSran, pcaeSan; Dutch, schaeden.] To waste.; 
to damage; to destroy. 
As when Heaven’s fire 
Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines. 
With singed top their stately growth, though bare, 
Stands on the blasted heath. Milton. 
' SCATH, s. [fcafte, Sax.] Waste; damage; mischief; 
depopulation. Scath, in Scotland, deDOtesspoil or damage: 
as, “he bears the scath and the scorn.” 
The ear that budded fair is burnt and blasted. 
And all my hoped ga,in is turn’d to scath. Spenser. 
SCA'TIIFUL, adj. Mischievous; destructive. 
A bawbling vessel was he captain of. 
For shallow draught, and bulk, unprizable, 
With which such scathful grapple did he make. 
That very envy, and the tongue of loss, 
Cried fame and honour on him. Shakspeare. 
SCATHLESS, adj. Without harm or damage. 
Then thoughten I, 
That scathelesse ful sikerly 
I might unto the welle go. 
To SCATTER, v. a. [pcaeepan, Saxon; 
Dutch.] To throw loosely about; to sprinkle. 
Teach the glad hours to scatter, as they fly. 
Soft quiet, gentle love, and endless joy. 
To dissipate; to disperse. 
Adam by this from the cold sudden damp 
Recovering, and his scatter'd spirits return’d. 
To spread thinly. 
Why should my muse enlarge on Lybian swains. 
Their scatter'd cottages and ample plains ? Dry den. 
To besprinkle with something loosely spread. 
Where cattle‘pastur’d late, now scatter'd lies 
With carcasses and arms the ensanguin’d field. Milton. 
To SCATTER, v. n. To be dissipated; to be dispersed. 
The sun 
Shakes from his noon-day throne the scattering clouds. 
Thomson. 
SCA'TTEREDLY, ado. Dispersedly; separately.—Had 
there been any man, who could have, collected and put to¬ 
gether, in order, the several truths which were taught singly, 
and scatteredly, by philosophers of all the different sects. 
Clarke. 
SCATTERING, s. Act of dispersing or distributing; 
that which is dispersed.—The former instances of temporal 
prosperity—are but [as it were) the promiscuous scatterings 
of his common providence. South. 
SCA'TTERINGLY, adv. Loosely; dispersedly.—Those 
drops of prettiness, scatteringly sprinkled amongst the crea¬ 
tures, were designed to defecate and exalt our conceptions, 
not to inveigle or detain our passions. Boyle. 
SCA'TTERLING, s. A vagabond; one that has no 
home or settled habitation. An elegant word, but disused. 
Todd. —-Such losels and scatterlings cannot easily, by any 
ordinary officer, be gotten, when challenged for any such fact. 
Spenser. 
SCA'TURIENT, adj. [scaturiens, Lat.] Springing as a 
fountain. Johnson. 
SCATURI'GINOUS, adj. [from scaturigo, Lat.] Full 
of springs or fountains. Johnson. 
SCAVAGE, Schevage, Schewage, or Shewage, in our 
Ancient Customs, a kind of toll, or custom, exacted by 
mayors, sheriffs, &c. of merchant-strangers, for wares shewed, 
or offered to sale, within their liberties. This custom is pro¬ 
hibited by stat. 19 Hen. VII. cap. 7., though the City of 
London still retains the benefit of it. 
SCAVANT, Savant, a term purely French, signifying 
learned. It is little used, except in the phrase Journal des 
Sgavans, denoting a journal of the works of the learned, 
published monthly at Paris; being the first work of that 
kind, and that from which all the rest have had their rise. 
Menage derives the word from the Latin sapere, to be 
wise; and, on that footing, he will have it written savant; 
others from scire, to know; and, for that reason, write it 
sgavant. The latter etymology and orthography are fol¬ 
lowed by the Academy; though all the ancient MSS. have 
it savant, savoir, &c. 
SCA'VENGER, s. [from fcapan, to shave, perhaps to 
sweep, Sax.] A petty officer, whose province is to keep the 
streets clean: more commonly the labourer employed in re¬ 
moving filth. 
Chaucer. 
schatteren. 
Prior. 
Milton. 
Dick 
