Definitions

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

  • noun A disease caused by deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by spongy and bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and extreme weakness.
  • adjective Mean; contemptible.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The black mustard, Brassica nigra.
  • noun A disease usually presenting swollen, spongy, easily bleeding gums, fibrinous effusion into some of the muscles, rendering them hard and brawny, hemorrhages beneath the skin, rheumatoid pains, anemia, and prostration.
  • Scurfy; covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; diseased with scurvy; scorbutic.
  • Vile; mean; low; vulgar; worthless; contemptible; paltry; shabby: as, a scurvy fellow.
  • Offensive; mischievous; malicious.

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

  • noun (Med.) A disease characterized by livid spots, especially about the thighs and legs, due to extravasation of blood, and by spongy gums, and bleeding from almost all the mucous membranes. It is accompanied by paleness, languor, depression, and general debility. It is occasioned by confinement, innutritious food, and hard labor, but especially by lack of fresh vegetable food, or confinement for a long time to a limited range of food, which is incapable of repairing the waste of the system. It was formerly prevalent among sailors and soldiers.
  • noun (Bot.) A kind of cress (Cochlearia officinalis) growing along the seacoast of Northern Europe and in arctic regions. It is a remedy for the scurvy, and has proved a valuable food to arctic explorers. The name is given also to other allied species of plants.
  • adjective Covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; scurfy; specifically, diseased with the scurvy.
  • adjective Vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible.

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

  • noun pathology 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.
  • adjective Contemptible, despicable, low, disgustingly mean.

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

  • adjective of the most contemptible kind
  • noun a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

Etymologies

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

[From Middle English scurfy, characterized by scurf (influenced by French scorbut, scurvy), from scurf, scurf; see scurf.]

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Examples

  • The name scurvy comes from the Latin scorbutus, and humans have known about the disease since ancient Greek and Egyptian times ...

    Health News from Medical News Today 2009

  • And I use the word scurvy to tie this to the fact that President Surrender Monkey is afraid of pirates.

    Bo, the Portuguese water dog. Ann Althouse 2009

  • And I use the word scurvy to tie this to the fact that President Surrender Monkey is afraid of pirates.

    Bo, the Portuguese water dog. Ann Althouse 2009

  • However, one of the signs of advanced scurvy is the body's failure to create or replace collagen in skin tissues.

    MY KNEES -- PART THREE, AFTER THE SURGERY Maggie Jochild 2007

  • Now, this security is like the disease in the body which is commonly called the scurvy; -- it is not any single distemper or disease, but a complication or concurrence of many prevalent distempers.

    The Sermons of John Owen 1616-1683 1968

  • I believe to be common salt; the sea-scurvy is evidently caused by it in long voyages; and

    Note XI 1803

  • The last thing I want to do is go starving to the grave clutching my Kelmscott Chaucer, my Nonesuch Shakespeare, my Sphinx in scurvy’d hand.

    2009 November 30 | NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS 2009

  • The last thing I want to do is go starving to the grave clutching my Kelmscott Chaucer, my Nonesuch Shakespeare, my Sphinx in scurvy’d hand.

    2009 November | NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS 2009

  • The last thing I want to do is go starving to the grave clutching my Kelmscott Chaucer, my Nonesuch Shakespeare, my Sphinx in scurvy’d hand.

    Where to invest in Rare Books… 2009

  • Stefansson demostrated that fresh, lightly cooked meat contains an antiscorbutic a substance that prevents scurvy, which is lost when meat is cooked to much.

    Odds and ends | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. 2009

Comments

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  • On the earliest connection between vitamin C and scurvy, see usage note on Melchisedech Thevenot.

    December 28, 2016