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▪ I. scruff, n.1|skrʌf|
Forms: 1, 7–9 scruf, 5 scrofe, 6 scruffe, Sc. skrufe, skruif(e, skruiff, scruef, 6–8 scroof, 7 scroofe, scrooffe, 7– scruff.
[Metathetic var. of scurf n.1]
†1.
a. A scabby or scaly condition of the skin; = scurf n.1 1. Obs.
[c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 316 Wið scruf, & wið sceb.] 14..Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 626, Glabra, scrofe or scalle.
†b. A scab. Obs. rare—1.
1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4716/4 Stoln.., a black Gelding.., with a large Wart or Scruff over his near Eye.
2. = scurf n.1 2.
1526Grete Herball clx. (1529) K ij b, Agaynst the scruffe of the heed and habundaunce of lyce. 1678Hobbes Decam. x. 124 Jumbling them together make them rub off their scruf from one another. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Med. xxvii. 339 Where there was a copious detachment of scruf.
3. A thin crust or coating. Cf. scurf n.1 4.
1591Bruce Serm. T 2 b, The outwarde scroofe, suppose it appeareth to be whole, where the inward is festered, auaileth nothing, bot maketh it to vndercoate again. 1695Sc. Acts Will. III (1822) IX. 452/2 Pulling up..Bent Juniper and broom bushes which did loose and break the surface and scrooffe of the saids hills.
4. a. Applied to what is worthless or contemptible; refuse, litter; † spec. base money; also used (like ‘dross’, ‘muck’) as a contemptuous term for money.
1559in Knox Hist. Ref. ii. Wks. 1846 I. 403 They spair not planelie to brek doun and convert the guid and stark money..into this thair corruptit skruiff and baggage of Hard-heidis and Non Suntis. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 65 Thai brocht þair bastardis, wt þe skrufe thai skraip To blande þair blude wt barrownis be ambitioun. 1656Blount Glossogr., Scruff, is a kinde of fuel, which poor people..gather up at ebbing water, in the bottom of the Thames about London, and consists of Coal, little sticks of Wood, Cockle-shells, and the like. 1768Woman of Honor II. 103 The..dirty current..carrying away with it the little trifling straw, scruff, and bubbles on its surface.
†b. (See quot.) Obs.
1673Cal. Treas. Bks. (1909) IV. 404 As to the importation of whale fins, commonly called scruffe, which you conceive ought to pay as whalebone, you are to state a case.
c. A scruffy person, an oaf, a layabout; a contemptible or inferior person, someone of no breeding. Also collect., scum, riff-raff.
1836W. Carleton Traits & Stories of Irish Peasantry (ed. 4) II. 342 Oh, you scruff of the earth. 1896G. F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 203 Scruff, a wastrel, raffish rogue. 1905J. Wright Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 290/1 The village is well enough but for the scruff that comes in. 1958People 4 May 12/4 ‘A nice class of fellow, too,’ he said. ‘Not one of the scruff.’ 1960D. Storey This Sporting Life i. v. 116 Every scruff in town's crept in. I don't like it. 1968J. Lock Lady Policeman iii. 22 The ‘scruff’ might merely be an arty or beat type being deliberately scruffy and the very young face might belong to a grown woman. 1973‘H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears x. 121 Nature gives some of us the wrong heredity... So you're a scruff and John Piper's a gentleman. 1977Listener 20 Jan. 72/2 Writing books or theatre plays is the only proper pursuit for a literary lady or gent, and..people who write for the new forms are money-grubbing scruffs who have sold their souls to the ghastly mass media.
5. Comb.: scruff-stone, ? rubble.
1869Blackmore Lorna D. ii, Old Cop..had jammed the double gates in under the scruff-stone archway.
▪ II. scruff, n.2|skrʌf|
Also dial. scruft.
[Corrupt form of scuff n.2, assimilated to prec.]
The nape of the neck.
1790Grose Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), Scruff, the nape of the neck. North. 1834Marryat P. Simple xxix, He would have fallen overboard, if I hadn't caught him by the scruff of the neck. 1892J. K. Jerome in Idler June 498 We adopted a more pressing method, and coaxed the dog out by the scruff of his neck.
transf.1869Blackmore Lorna D. xxix, ‘John Fry, you big villain!’ I cried, with John hanging up in the air by the scruff of his neck-cloth.
▪ III. scruff, v.1|skrʌf|
Also 8 scruiff.
[f. scruff n.1]
1. a. trans. To touch slightly, graze (see Jam. and E.D.D.); also fig. to treat superficially, slur over. orig. Sc. and north.
Examples in Sc. use with various spellings (as screef, scrief, scriff, etc.) may be found in S.N.D. s.v. scruif, n., v.
1658[implied in scruffer below]. 1707Min. Ayr Presbyt. (MS.), He doth often change his text, and doth not raise many heads and doth not prosecute such as he names, but scruffs them. 1713Humble Plead. Good old-way 92 Many scandalous practises of Presbyterian ministers in some places, tho flagrant and notour, little heeded, and, when complained of, scruiffed over with private accomodations. 1720E. Erskine Wks. (1871) I. 91 Many there are who scruff over the duty in a superficial manner. 1862St. Andrews Gaz. 3 Oct. 3/3 The boy was sleeping on the cart and fell down, and..his head was a little ‘scruffed’ on the wheel. 1876C. C. Robinson Gloss. Dial. Mid-Yorks. 118/2 One will be told to get a besom and scruff the snow off the doorstone. 1896P. A. Graham Red Scaur 347, I felt it scruff his chafts. 1920C. Sandburg Smoke & Steel 25 Wearing leather shoes scruffed with fire.
b. in Golf, to graze (the turf) when striking the ball. Also absol. or intr.
1857H. B. Farnie Golfer's Man. (1947) 74 Scruff, slightly razing the grass in striking. 1926Amer. Speech I. 633/1 Scruff, to graze the grass with the club in striking.
c. in Painting, to stroke (oil colour) lightly over a rough surface.
1950[implied in scruffing vbl. n. below]. 1970Oxf. Compan. Art 1055/1 A scumble must..be applied irregularly—dragged or scruffed—in such a way that small areas of the under colour show through.
2. [As a back-formation from scruffy a.] to scruff oneself up: to make oneself scruffy.
1970G. Lord Marshmallow Pie ii. 19 Scruff yourself up a bit over the weekend. You know, sweat a bit and that. 1970Guardian 6 Apr. 9/4 The hardest thing..was to make those girls look really scruffy... You don't look like a plumber's wife, we kept saying... She didn't scruff herself up enough..for what the part demanded.
Hence ˈscruffer; ˈscruffing vbl. n.
1658in J. Campbell Balmerino (1899) 410 Calling him [the minister] a betrayer of sowles, a scruffer of Scriptures. 1950Chambers's Encycl. X. 310/2 The ‘scruffing’ trick: the brush laden with dry (light) paint is rapidly dragged over a darker tone. 1961M. Levy Studio Dict. of Art Terms 100 Scruffing, an application of paint which skims the surface of a painting area, but does not take in the depressions of the panel or canvas texture.
▪ IV. scruff, v.2|skrʌf|
[f. scruff n.2]
a. trans. To seize (a person) by the nape of the neck.
1885H. Finch-Hatton Advance Australia! 100, I once had a narrow escape of being ‘scruffed’ by an alligator.
b. To seize and hold (a calf) while it is being branded or castrated. Austral.
1881A. C. Grant Bush-Life in Queensland I. xvi. 228 The smaller calves are scruffed. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 810/2 After the calves are separated from their mothers..the former are one by one ‘scruffed’—that is, seized by a couple of men and held down while knife and branding-iron are applied. 1931F. D. Davison Man-Shy (1934) v. 71 It was the red heifer's turn... ‘Get the ropes. She's too big to scruff,’ he said.
c. To push roughly; manhandle. rare.
1926J. Black You can't Win ix. 121 After they got done scruffing me around, two of them took me by each arm. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 64 Scruff, to, to attack, manhandle a person. |