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scab

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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A scab (noun sense 1)

Etymology

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From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /skæb/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æb

Noun

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scab (countable and uncountable, plural scabs)

  2. An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
  3. (colloquial or obsolete) The scabies.
  4. The mange, especially when it appears on sheep.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 306:
      Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling.
  5. (uncountable) Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus).
    Coordinate term: blight
  6. Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies.
  7. (phytopathology) Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
  8. (founding) A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
    Coordinate term: (material left around the edge of a moulded part) flash
  9. (derogatory) A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:villain
  11. (derogatory, slang) A worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting.
    Synonyms: blackleg, blacklegger, knobstick, scalie
    • 1905 April, Jack London, “The Scab”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 107:
      Viewed in this light, the scab, who gives more labor power for a certain price than his fellows, is not so generous after all. He is no more generous with his energy than the chattel slave and the convict laborer, who, by the way, are the almost perfect scabs.
    • 2023 May 5, James Schamus, “Hollywood thinks it can divide and conquer the writers’ strike. It won’t work”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      Conglomerates want to turn us into gig workers or replace us with AI scabs. Writers across the world are uniting to fight back[.] […] And they are sending a powerful message to their members – or, rather, their members are sending a powerful message through them: don’t write on Guild-covered projects, don’t be a scab.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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scab (third-person singular simple present scabs, present participle scabbing, simple past and past participle scabbed)

  1. (intransitive) To become covered by a scab or scabs.
  2. (intransitive) To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.
    • 1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631,
      Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox.
    • 2009, Linda Wisdom, Wicked By Any Other Name, page 233:
      Trev walked over and leaned down, dropping a tender kiss on her forehead where the skin was raw and scabbing from the cut.
    • 2009, Nancy Lord, Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life, page 121:
      The bark that wasn′t already scabbed off was peppered with beetle holes.
  3. (transitive) To remove part of a surface (from).
    • 1891, Canadian Senate, Select Committee on Railways, Telegraphs and Harbours: Proceedings and Evidence, page 265:
      The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this.
  4. (intransitive) To act as a strikebreaker.
    • 1905 April, Jack London, “The Scab”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 108:
      Nobody desires to scab, to give most for least. The ambition of every individual is quite the opposite, to give least for most; and, as a result, living in a tooth-and-nail society, battle royal is waged by the ambitious individuals.
    • 1931, Florence Reece, “Which Side Are You On?”:
      Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize.
  5. (transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To beg (for), to cadge or bum.
    I scabbed some money off a friend.
    • 2004, Niven Govinden, We are the New Romantics, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, page 143,
      Finding a spot in a covered seating area that was more bus shelter than tourist-friendly, I unravelled a mother of a joint I′d scabbed off the garçon.
    • 2006, Linda Jaivin, The Infernal Optimist, 2010, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page,
      I′d already used up me mobile credit. I was using a normal phone card, what I got from Hamid, what got it from a church lady what helped the refugees. I didn′t like scabbing from the asylums, but they did get a lotta phone cards.
    • 2010, Fiona Wood, Six Impossible Things, page 113:
      I′ve told Fred we can see a movie this weekend, but that just seems like a money-wasting activity. And I can′t keep scabbing off my best friend.

Translations

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Anagrams

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Irish

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Verb

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scab (present analytic scabann, future analytic scabfaidh, verbal noun scabadh, past participle scabtha)

  1. alternative form of scaip (“to disperse, scatter”)

Conjugation

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Conjugation of scab (first conjugation – A)
indicative singular plural direct relative autonomous
first second third first second third
present scabaim scabann tú;
scabair† 		scabann sé, sí scabaimid; scabann muid scabann sibh scabann siad;
scabaid† 		a scabann; a scabas scabtar
past scab mé; scabas scab tú; scabais scab sé, sí scabamar; scab muid scab sibh; scababhair scab siad; scabadar a scab scabadh
past habitual scabainn scabtá scabadh sé, sí scabaimis; scabadh muid scabadh sibh scabaidís; scabadh siad a scabadh scabtaí
singular plural direct relative autonomous
first second third first second third
future scabfaidh mé;
scabfad 		scabfaidh tú;
scabfair† 		scabfaidh sé, sí scabfaimid;
scabfaidh muid 		scabfaidh sibh scabfaidh siad;
scabfaid† 		a scabfaidh; a scabfas scabfar
conditional scabfainn scabfá scabfadh sé, sí scabfaimis; scabfadh muid scabfadh sibh scabfaidís; scabfadh siad a scabfadh scabfaí
subjunctive singular plural direct relative autonomous
first second third first second third
present go scaba mé;
go scabad† 		go scaba tú;
go scabair† 		go scaba sé, sí go scabaimid;
go scaba muid 		go scaba sibh go scaba siad;
go scabaid† 		— go scabtar
past dá scabainn dá scabtá dá scabadh sé, sí dá scabaimis;
dá scabadh muid 		dá scabadh sibh dá scabaidís;
dá scabadh siad 		— dá scabtaí
imperative singular plural direct relative autonomous
first second third first second third
— scabaim scab scabadh sé, sí scabaimis scabaigí;
scabaidh† 		scabaidís — scabtar
past participle scabtha
verbal noun scabadh

† archaic or dialect form
‡ dependent form

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