scug

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Scottish and Northern English from Old Norse skuggi, from Proto-Germanic *skuwwô (shadow, reflection). Cognate with Icelandic skuggi, Swedish skugga, Danish skygge, Old English sċūa, sċūwa (a shade).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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scug (plural scugs)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland) Shade, shadow.
  2. (Northern England, Scotland) A shelter, a sheltered place (especially on the side of a hill).
    • 1897, Outlaws, Hamilton, page 156:
      We was jickering along [] under the scug o' the hill.
  3. (dialectal) A squirrel.
    • 1883, Alfred Easther, A Glossary of the Dialect of Almondbury and Huddersfield, page 78:
      "Let's go scug-hunting" is a common phrase. [] a stick with a leaden head, used for knocking down birds and scugs (squirrels).
  4. (dated, slang) A lower-school or inferior boy.
    • 1865, Bracebridge Hemyng, Butler Burke at Eton, page 75:
      [] before the lower school scugs got there, and pitched it in at Acropolis.
    • 1881, C. E. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools, page 312:
      Scug, Et[on]. Har[row]. Negatively, a boy who is not distinguished in person, in games, or social qualities. Positively, a boy of untidy, dirty, or ill-mannered habits; one whose sense of propriety is not fully developed.
    • 1969, Ralph G. Martin, Jennie: the Life of Lady Randolph Churchill: The romantic years, 1854-1895, Prentice-Hall, page 54:
      A scug was an untidy, ill-mannered, and morally undeveloped boy, a shirker at games, bumptious and arrogant. If not naturally vicious, a scug was considered degenerate.

Verb

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scug (third-person singular simple present scugs, present participle scugging, simple past and past participle scugged)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland, transitive) To shelter; to protect.
  2. (Northern England, Scotland, intransitive) To hide; to take shelter.

Anagrams

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