scran

English

Alternative forms

• skran (Scotland)

Etymology

Probably of North Germanic origin, from or cognate with Old Norse skran (“rubbish; marine stores”). Compare Icelandic skran (“junk”), Danish skrammel (“junk, lumber”). Doublet of scrawn.

Pronunciation

• (Glasgow, Northern England, especially Manchester, Liverpool, Geordie) IPA^(key): /skɹan/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -an

Noun

scran (uncountable)

1. (UK, Ireland, slang) Food, especially that of an inferior quality; grub.

   Synonyms: (Geordie) scrawn; see also Thesaurus:food

   Let wi gan and get some scran am starvin man!

   Let's go and get some food. I'm starving!

   • 1853, Charles John Chetwynd Talbot, Meliora, Or, Better Times to Come, page 247:

     I know there are many persons — some who are themselves poor — who 'never turn a beggar from their door,' but always give them a few browns (halfpence) or some scran (broken victuals).

2. Refuse; rubbish.

Derived terms

• bad scran to someone
• scrannish

Descendants

• → Welsh: sgram

References

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “SCRAN”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “scran”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.

Verb

scran (third-person singular simple present scrans, present participle scranning, simple past and past participle scranned)

1. (slang, Liverpool, Manchester, Scotland) To eat.
2. (slang, Northern England) To steal in an impish manner; pinch, nick.

Anagrams

• crans, scarn, crnas, narcs, Carns, scrna, cRNAs, carns, Crans, scRNA