scum, skumme, to scour, with respect to land or sea; ‘There were sent forth rydars to skumme the country’, Morte Arthur, leaf 26, back, 30; bk. i, c. 13. F. ‘escumer; escumer la mer, to scowr, as a fleet, the sea’ (Cotgr.); escumeur, ‘corsaire qui fait des courses sur mer, pirate’ (Didot).
scumber, to void excrement, as a dog or fox. ‘Fienter, to dung, scumber’, Cotgrave; ‘When they (hounds) are led out of their kennels to scumber’, Massinger, Picture, v. 1 (Ricardo). Used in Cornwall of a bird (EDD.). OF. escombrer, to clean out (Godefroy). See [bescumber], [scombre].
scur; see [skirr].
scurer, a scout, one sent forward to reconnoitre. Mirror for Mag., Guidericus, st. 36; ‘Out was our scurer sent agayn . . . to shew wher aboute the place was’, More, Comfort ag. Tribulation (Wks., p. 1181). OF. descouvreur, ‘espion, qui va à la découverte’ (Didot); Med. L. disco-operator (Ducange).
scurrile, scurrilous, vulgarly witty. Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 148; Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1. 153. L. scurrilis, buffoon-like; from scurra, a buffoon.
scut, a hare. Skelton, Garl. of Laurell, 632. ME. scut, a hare (Prompt.).
scute, a coin of small value. Chapman, All Fools, v. 1 (Valerio). In prov. use from Dorset to Cornwall for a sum of money, see EDD. (s.v. Scute, sb.1). Properly an E. name for the French coin called ėcu, OF. escut, L. scutum, a shield.
sdayn, to disdain. Spenser, F. Q. v. 5. 44.
sea-card, the card on which the points of the compass were marked. Fletcher, The Chances, i. 10 (near the end). See [card].
sea-holm, sea-holly. Drayton, Pol. i. 125. Cp. holm-oak; and see [eringo].