scurvy grass (skervigras)

[A corruption of scurvy-cre , so named because used as a cure for scurvy.] 1. A cruciferous plant, Cochlear i a officinal is, of northern and western Europe and arctic America: an antiscorbutic and salad plant. Locally called scrooby- or scruby - gra . A woman crying, "Buy any scurvy -gra ?" Middle ton and Dekker , Roaring Girl, iii. 2. 2. One of the winter cre es, Barb are a præcox , a European plant cultivated as a winter salad, becoming wild in parts of the United States. scuse (skūs), n. and v. [By apheresis from ex cuse.] Same as excuse . Yea, Custance, better (they say) a badde scuse than none. . I will the truthe know een as it is. Udall , Roister Doister, v. 2. That ' scuse serves many men to save their gifts. Shak . , M. of V., iv. 1. 444. IMG:content-0410.png:[blocks in formation] 2. In medieval arch., etc., a shield or plate on a door, from the center of which hung the do or handle. 3. The cover of a keyhole, usually pivoted at the top, so as to drop over the keyhole by its weight. A sliding scutcheon is called a sheave.-4. A plate for an inscription, especially a small one for a name, as on a knife or a walking-stick.-5. In her., same as escutch eon, 1. scutcheoned (skuch'ond), a. Emblazoned; ornamented or surmounted by a scutcheon or emblazoned shield. The scutcheon'd emblems which it bore. Scott, Bridal of Trier main, iii. 15. Far off her lover sleeps as still Within his scutcheoned tomb. Whittier, The Counte . scut1 (skut), a. [Perhaps a mixture of cut , cutty , short, with short (AS. sceort ), and further scutcher (skuch'er), n. [ scut2 , n.] Short, as a garment, etc. Halli- flail, escou er , shake, beat: see scutch .] 1. IMG:content-0411.png:[blocks in formation] Shak., M. W. of W., v. 5. 20. Watch came, with his little scut of a tail cocked as sharp R. D. Black more , Lorna Doone, xlii. as duty. scurry (skur'i), v. i.; pret. and pp. scurried, ppr. scurrying . [Also skurry ; an extended form of scur or the orig. scour2 , perhaps due in part to skurriour and similar forms of scurrer , and scuta, n. Plural of scutum . in part to a ociation with hurry , as in hurry- scurry.] To hurry along; move hastily and precipitately; scamper. 2. In her ., the tail, as of a cony: used only when the tail is of a different tincture from the rest. He [Hannibal] commanded the horsemen of the Numidians to scurry to the trenches. North , tr. of Plutarch, p. 882.