Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The art of carving or incising intricate designs on whalebone or whale ivory.
  • noun A decorative article made by this art.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To decorate (whale ivory or whalebone) with intricate carvings or designs or make such designs.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To engrave various fanciful designs on (shells, whales' teeth, walrus-tusks, etc.); in general, to execute any piece of ingenious mechanical work.
  • noun A shell or a piece of ivory scrimshawed or fancifully carved.
  • Made by scrimshawing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Sailor's cant. U.S. To ornament, as shells, ivory, etc., by engraving, and (usually) rubbing pigments into the incised lines.
  • noun Sailor's cant, U.S. A shell, a whale's tooth, or the like, that is scrimshawed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The manufacture of handicrafts by sailors on long voyages, especially as whittled from wood or bone.
  • noun countable An item produced by scrimshaw.
  • verb To make an item of scrimshaw.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a carving (or engraving) on whalebone, whale ivory, walrus tusk, etc., usually by American whalers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from scrimshander.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin unknown.

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