scurvy
nounEtymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English scurvi, scurvy, variants of scurfi (“having scurf, scabby”), from scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Scurf is derived from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). By surface analysis, scurf (“skin disease; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease; crust-like formations on the skin”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective. It was used to translate the similar-sounding Dutch scheurbuik, French scorbut, Middle Low German schorbūk (“scurvy (disease)”), etc.
Medicine, Pathology, Sciences Usually A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.
- Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.1589, Robert Baker, “The Second Voyage to Guinie, and the Riuer of Selto, Set Out in the Moneth of Nouember 1563, […]”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, page 139:
- [H]ee will go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spaniards throats but he will haue it, byrlady when he comes there, poore ſoule hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruies; […]1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC, signature B2, verso:
4 more examples
- [W]hich excellent plant [scurvy-grass], Cæſars ſoldiers […] found to preuaile […] againſt that plague and hurtfull diſeaſe of the teeth, gums, and ſinevves, called the Scuruie, being a depriuation of all good bloode and moiſture, in the vvhole bodie, called Scorbutum; in Engliſh the Scuruie, and Skyrbie: […]1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Scuruie Grasse, or Spoonewoort”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 325, column 2:
- [N]ovv vve have looſed the plough in the fields, they'l find vvork enough about home to keep us from the ſcurvey.c. 1607–1626 (date written), Thomas Heywood; William Rowly [i.e., William Rowley], Fortune by Land and Sea. A Tragi-comedy. […], London: […] John Sweeting […], and Robert Pollard […], published 1655, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 21:
- The Scurvies is the Mother and Nurſery of all Diſeaſes: and upon taking old, or any diſorder of Body, they branch out one Diſtemper or other, and yet the grand cauſe, vvhich is the Scurvies, remains all in one Body.1674 October 25 (Gregorian calendar), George Jones, This is to Give You Notice of My Friendly Pill: The Like whereof was Never Found Out before, for Doing Good: […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 8–9:
- But I muſt allovv that this VVater is moſt indovv'd vvith theſe Acid Streams by this means, and may repute it as moſt Medicinal in Scurvies, on the Score of the Quantity of Acid, Chalybeat, and Allummy, extraordinary in this.1711, Benjamin Allen, “Scarborough-water in Yorkshire”, in The Natural History of the Mineral-waters of Great-Britain. […], London: […] [F]or the author, and sold by William Innys, […], →OCLC, page 34:
Derogatory, Figuratively, Usually A contemptible or despicable person.
- Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.2002, Roy Vincent Buckle, “Sea Shanty: The Ballad of Kate d’Vere”, in Africans and Aliens, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, part 2 (Cherchez la Femme), page 76:
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.2004 October, “Don’t Go There! Our Desert-island List of Desert Islands where You’d Never Want to be Stranded”, in Sia Michel, editor, Spin, volume 20, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Vibe/Spin Ventures, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 2:
1 more example
- Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]2022 September 13, Carrie Chang, The Dieters: Confessions of a Valley Girl in Plaid, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
- Derived terms
- button scurvy, land-scurvy, scurvetical, scurvical, scurvied, scurvy-grass, sea-scurvy