Schiedam. Another name for Hollands, or Dutch gin, from the place where this native spirit is distilled.
Schooner. This kind of vessel received its name from the exclamation of a spectator at the time when its earliest example was launched: “Look, she schoons!”
Schottische. Expresses the German for a Scottish dance, a variation of the polka, in three-quarter time. The Scots, however, repudiate its invention. It is not improbable that a Scotsman, sojourning in the Fatherland, blundered into this step through his inability to dance the polka correctly.
Scilly Isles. After the name of one of the smallest, in proximity to a very dangerous rock similar to that of Scylla in Sicily which, according to Homer, was the abode of a monster so denominated.
Scissors-tail. A South American bird which in the course of its flights opens and shuts its tail for the purpose of entrapping the flies that constitute its prey.
Scorching. A bicycling term which, curiously enough, only came into vogue after the possibility of realising it had been removed. In the days of the old “Bone-shaker,” before rubber tyres were heard of, there would have been great likelihood of setting the wooden machine on fire by furious riding on the part of an expert.
Scotch Reel. See “[Reel].”
Scot-free. A phrase derived from the old legal exaction “Scot and Lot,” the former being derived from the Anglo-Saxon sceat, pay, and the latter meaning a tribute allotted to every man according to his means. It was rare indeed that anyone got off “Scot-free” in ancient times.
Scotia. From the Celtic scot, wanderer, with the suffix ia, country; the ancient designation of the Highlands, now, with the Lowlands, called “Scotland.”
Scotists. Those who accepted the doctrine of John Duns Scotus relative to the Immaculate Conception, in opposition to the “Thomists.”