scurf1 (skerf)

[Formerly also skurf, and transposed scruff; fine shreds or scales. Scurf is continually coming from the human skin, being removed by the friction of the clothes, in the bath, etc. The scurf of the head, where it may remain held by the hair in considerable quantity, is known as dandruff. In some diseases affecting the skin, scurf comes off in large flakes or layers, as in the desquamation or "peeling" after scarlet fever. Well may we raise jars, Jealousies, strifes, and heart-burning disagreements, Like a thick scurf o'er life. Middle ton , The Witch, i. 2. Then are they happy, when by length of time The scurf is worn away of each committed crime. Dryden, Æneid, vi. 2. Any scaly or flaky matter on a surface. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glo y scurf . Milton , P. L., i. 672. Specifically - (a) In bot., a loose bran-like scaly matter that is found on some leaves, as in the genus Elæagnus, etc. (b) A growth of polyps on oysters. 3. Scum; offscouring. Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there, If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf , That one who by the Servant of the Servants From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione. Long fellow , tr. of Dante's Inferno, xv. 111. scurf2 (skėrf), n . [Also scurff, skurff ; scurffe ; perhaps so called from the scaly or scabby appearance: see scurf 1.] A gray bull trout; a variety of the trout, Salmo trutta cambric us. [Local, Eng.] There are two sorts of them [Bull-trouts), Red Trouts and Gray Trouts or Skur , which keep not in in the Channel of Rivulets or Rivers, but lurk like the Alder lings under the roots of great Alders. Moffett and Bennet , Health's Improvement (ed. 1746), [p. 283. scurfer (skėrf'ėr), n. One who removes scale from boilers. The Scrapers' and Scurfers ' Union. Engineer , LXX. 293. scurfine (skėr'fi-nes), n. [Early mod. E. scorffyne e ; And euer to remayne In wretched beggary, And maungy misery,... And scabbed scorffyne e. Skelton, Duke of Albany, etc., 1. 140. scurf-skin (skėrf's kin), n. Same as scarf - skin . scurfy (skėr'fi), a . [ scurfy (= D. schurftig =G. schorfig = Sw. skorfvig , scurfy); scurf 1 + -yl. In another form scurvy : see scurvyl .] 1. 5433 Poets have fancied the footprints of the wind in those a sudden blur. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 42. scurfy Covered with scurf; exfoliating in small scales; scurvy; scabby.-2. Resembling or consisting light ripples that sometimes scurry acro smooth water of scurf.- Scurfy scale. See scale1. scurget, n. and v. An obsolete spelling of scourge.