scoter (skoter)

[Also, in comp., scooter (also scoter-duck, scooter - duck ); also scoot, perhaps IMG:content-0345.jpg:[graphic] Male Black Scoter ( Edemia nigra). black and a red gibbosity of the bill, as Edemia nigra of Europe. The corresponding American spe cies is E. american a. The name is extended to the velvet or white-winged scoter, E. fusc a or E. velvet in a, and to the surf-scoter, E. per spic ill at a. In the United States all three species are commonly called coot, or sea - coot, with various qualifying terms and some very fanciful names. See Edemia , and cut under Pelionetta . - Double scoter, the great black scoter, Edemia fusc a . Same as scoter. scoter-duck (sko tėr-duk), n. scot-free (skot'frē), a. [ By this light, a cogging cheat or;... he furnish eth your ordinary, for which he feeds scot-free. Marston, What you Will, v. 1. 2. Unhurt; clear; safe. In this sense also shot free , with the intention of a pun. They'll set me scot - free from your men and you. Greene, Alphonsus, v. I, at whom they shot, sit here shot - free. B. Jonson, Apol. to Poetaster.