scurvy
adjEtymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English scurvi, scurvy, variants of scurfi (“having scurf, scabby”), from scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Scurf is derived from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). By surface analysis, scurf (“skin disease; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease; crust-like formations on the skin”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective. It was used to translate the similar-sounding Dutch scheurbuik, French scorbut, Middle Low German schorbūk (“scurvy (disease)”), etc.
Definitions
Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or…
Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun sense 1).
- Some wenches come vnlased, / Some hyswyues come vnbrased, / Wyth theyr naked pappes, / That flappes and flappes; / […] / A sorte of foule drabbes / All scuruy with scabbes: […]
- The bran of VVheate boiled in ſharpe vineger, and rubbed vpon them that be ſcuruie and mangie, easeth the partie very much.
- This medicine is vvell approued to cure all ſorts of Paine, Scratches, Moully heeles, or any other skiruy ſcalls vvhatſoeuer, that may breede in a horſes leg or heeles, […]
Of growths on plants
Of growths on plants: resembling scurf; scurfy.
Of a person or thing
Of a person or thing: disgustingly mean; contemptible, despicable, low.
- a scurvy knave a scurvy trick
- Iſt not a ſcuruie ieſt, that a man ſhould ieſt himſelfe to death.
- The Moore's abus'd by ſome outragious knaue: / Some baſe notorious knaue, some ſcuruy fellovv, […]
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Of the way someone is treated
Of the way someone is treated: poor, shabby.
A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid…
A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.
- Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.
- [H]ee will go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spaniards throats but he will haue it, byrlady when he comes there, poore ſoule hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruies; […]
A contemptible or despicable person.
- Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.
- Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]
A cattle disease, perhaps affecting the skin.
The neighborhood
Derived
scoury, scurvily, scurviness, button scurvy, land-scurvy, scurvetical, scurvical, scurvied, scurvy-grass, sea-scurvy
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for scurvy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA