Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A crust discharged from and covering a healing wound.
- noun Scabies or mange in domestic animals or livestock, especially sheep.
- noun Any of various plant diseases caused by fungi or bacteria and resulting in crustlike spots on fruit, leaves, or roots.
- noun The spots caused by such a disease.
- noun Slang A person regarded as contemptible.
- noun A worker who refuses membership in a labor union.
- noun An employee who works while others are on strike; a strikebreaker.
- noun A person hired to replace a striking worker.
- intransitive verb To become covered with scabs or a scab.
- intransitive verb To work or take a job as a scab.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To form a scab or scabby incrustation; become covered with a scab or scabs; specifically, to heal over; cicatrize; repair solution of continuity of a surface by the formation of a new skin or cicatrix.
- noun An incrusted substance, dry and rough, formed over a sore in healing.
- noun The mange, or some mangy disease caused by the presence of a parasite, as an itch-insect; scabies.
- noun A mean, paltry, or shabby fellow: a term of contempt.
- noun Specifically, in recent use, a workman who is not or refuses to become a member of a labor-union, who refuses to join in a strike, or who takes the place of a striker: an opprobrious term used by the workmen or others who dislike his action.
- noun In botany, a fungous disease affecting various fruits, especially apples and pears, in which a black mold appears, often distorting or destroying the fruit.
- noun In founding, any projection on a casting caused by a defect in the sand-mold.
- Having to do with “scabs,” or made by them: used opprobriously: as, scab mills; scab labor; scab shoes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To become covered with a scab.
- intransitive verb to take the place of a striking worker.
- noun An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed by the drying up of the discharge from the diseased part.
- noun Colloq. or Obs. The itch in man; also, the scurvy.
- noun The mange, esp. when it appears on sheep.
- noun A disease of potatoes producing pits in their surface, caused by a minute fungus (
Tiburcinia Scabies ). - noun (Founding) A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
- noun Low A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.
- noun Cant A nickname for a workman who engages for lower wages than are fixed by the trades unions; also, for one who takes the place of a workman on a strike.
- noun (Bot.) Any one of various more or less destructive fungus diseases attacking cultivated plants, and usually forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing. - noun The
scabies . - noun The
mange , especially when it appears on sheep. - noun Several different
diseases ofpotatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by Streptomyces -bacteria. - noun Short form for common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab caused by Streptomyces scabies.
- noun botany Any one of various more or less destructive
fungus diseases attacking cultivated plants, and forming dark-colored crustlike spots. - noun founding A slight
irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of themold . - noun A mean, dirty,
paltry fellow. - noun slang A worker who acts against
trade union policies, especially astrikebreaker . - verb intransitive To become covered by a scab or scabs.
- verb intransitive To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.
- verb transitive To remove part of a surface (from).
- verb intransitive To act as a strikebreaker.
- verb transitive, Australia, New Zealand, informal To
beg (for), tocadge orbum .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb take the place of work of someone on strike
- verb form a scab
- noun someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
- noun the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word scab.
Examples
-
They denied that the term scab has been used in a threatening or intimidating manner.
-
The uncompromising and terrible hatred of the trade-unionist for a scab is the hatred of a class for a traitor to that class, -- while the hatred of a trade-unionist for the militia is the hatred of a class for a weapon wielded by the class with which it is fighting.
THE CLASS STRUGGLE 2010
-
Their hatred for a scab is as terrible as the hatred of a patriot for a traitor, of a Christian for a Judas.
THE SCAB 2010
-
Their hatred for a scab is as terrible as the hatred of a patriot for a traitor, of a Christian for a Judas.
The Scab 1905
-
Their hatred for a scab is as terrible as the hatred of a patriot for a traitor, of a Christian for a Judas.
THE SCAB 1905
-
The uncompromising and terrible hatred of the trade-unionist for a scab is the hatred of a class for a traitor to that class, -- while the hatred of a trade-unionist for the militia is the hatred of a class for a weapon wielded by the class with which it is fighting.
The Class Struggle 1905
-
Their hatred for a scab is as terrible as the hatred of a patriot for a traitor, of a
The Scab 1904
-
The uncompromising and terrible hatred of the trade unionist for a scab is the hatred of a class for a traitor to that class, while the hatred of a trade unionist for the militia is the hatred of a class for a weapon wielded by the class with which it is fighting.
The Class Struggle 1903
-
The sentimental connotation of "scab" is as terrific as that of "traitor" or "Judas," and a sentimental definition would be as deep and varied as the human heart.
The Scab 1905
-
A violent accession of noise proclaimed that the mob had broken through and was dragging a scab from a wagon.
SOUTH OF THE SLOT 2010
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.