scab
verbEtymology From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.
1
To become covered by a scab or scabs.
2
To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.
- 1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631, Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox.
- Trev walked over and leaned down, dropping a tender kiss on her forehead where the skin was raw and scabbing from the cut.2009, Linda Wisdom, Wicked By Any Other Name, page 233:
1 more example
- The bark that wasn′t already scabbed off was peppered with beetle holes.2009, Nancy Lord, Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life, page 121:
3
To remove part of a surface (from).
- The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this.1891, Canadian Senate, Select Committee on Railways, Telegraphs and Harbours: Proceedings and Evidence, page 265:
4
To act as a strikebreaker.
- Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize.1931, “Which Side Are You On?”, performed by Florence Patton Reece:
- Nobody desires to scab, to give most for least. The ambition of every individual is quite the opposite, to give least for most; and, as a result, living in a tooth-and-nail society, battle royal is waged by the ambitious individuals.1903 April 5, London, Jack, The Scab:
5
Australia, New Zealand, UK, Informal To beg (for), to cadge or bum.
- I scabbed some money off a friend.
- 2004, Niven Govinden, We are the New Romantics, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, page 143, Finding a spot in a covered seating area that was more bus shelter than tourist-friendly, I unravelled a mother of a joint I′d scabbed off the garçon.
2 more examples
- 2006, Linda Jaivin, The Infernal Optimist, 2010, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page, I′d already used up me mobile credit. I was using a normal phone card, what I got from Hamid, what got it from a church lady what helped the refugees. I didn′t like scabbing from the asylums, but they did get a lotta phone cards.
- I′ve told Fred we can see a movie this weekend, but that just seems like a money-wasting activity. And I can′t keep scabbing off my best friend.2010, Fiona Wood, Six Impossible Things, page 113: