scaly
nounEtymology From Middle English scali, skaly. By surface analysis, scale + -y.
1
South Africa The scaly yellowfish (Labeobarbus natalensis).
scaly
adj/ˈskeɪli/
Etymology From Middle English scali, skaly. By surface analysis, scale + -y.
1
Covered or abounding with scales.
- a scaly fish a scaly stem
- If the lids of the eyes become inflamed and scaly, do not seek to remove the scales roughly, for they will bring the lashes with them.1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia:
1 more example
- Like scaly carp and feathered swan To nature's world we do belong.1988, “Mayhem Maybe”, in Ian Anderson (music), 20 Years of Jethro Tull, performed by Jethro Tull:
2
Composed of scales lying over each other.
- a scaly bulb
3
Resembling scales, laminae, or layers.
4
South Africa, Dated, Vulgar low, mean.
- a scaly fellow
- This done, he removed the hat; and having touched his forehead lightly with a silk handkerchief, for the afternoon sun was warm, gazed about him with a grave distaste. “A scaly neighbourhood!” he murmured. The young man’s judgment was one at which few people with an eye for beauty would have cavilled.1923, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter II, in Leave It to Psmith:
- Synonyms
- lepidote, leprose, scaled, scaly, scarious, squamate, squamated, squamiferous, squamoid, furfuraceous, squamous, squamulose, squarrose
- Antonyms
- unscaly, esquamulose, nonscaly, scaleless
- Derived terms
- Cameroon scaly-tail, nonscaly, scalily, scaliness, scaly anteater, scaly-breasted lorikeet, scalybutt, scaly clam, scalyfin, scalyfoot, scaly-foot gastropod, scaly legs, scaly-sided merganser, scaly spleenwort, scaly-tailed possum, scaly tetter, scaly thrush
- Related terms
- fishlike, reptilelike
- Hypernyms
- rough
- Hyponyms
- lepidopterous, undescaled