scruff









scruff


noun

  1. the nape or back of the neck.

noun Metallurgy.

  1. (in tin-plating) dross formed in the bath.

noun

  1. the nape of the neck (esp in the phrase by the scruff of the neck)

noun

  1. informal an untidy scruffy person
  2. informal a disreputable person, ruffian
  3. another name for scum (def. 3)

n.“nape of the neck,” 1790, altered (by influence of scruff “crust”) from scuft (1787), probably related to North Frisian skuft “back of the neck of a horse” and Dutch schoft “withers of a horse,” from a common Germanic source (cf. Old Norse skopt “hair of the head,” Gothic skuft, Middle High German schopf, German Schopf). Another theory holds it to be a variant of scurf.

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