▪ I. skeg, n.1
Also 6 skeygg, 7 skegge, scegg, 7, 9 skegg.
[a. ON. skegg (Icel. skegg, Norw. skjegg, Sw. skägg, Da. skjæg) beard (of men, also transf. of a ship, of grain, etc.). Sense 2, however, may be directly from Du. scheg, schegge (hence G. schegg, schech), which represents the same Scand. word.]
1. local. A species of bearded oat, of inferior quality (see quots.). Also attrib. in skeg-oat.
| 1598 I. R. Fitzherbert's Husb. §14 These [rough oats] are for the most barranest Heath or forrest ground that may be, as in Darbishiere, where they call them Skeyggs, and not Oates. 1607 Markham Caval. iii. (1617) 18 The Oates being good, sound and full, and not like your Southerne Oates light and empty, which in the North we call skegs. 1794 R. Lowe Agric. Notts. 9 It was usual to get five crops running; oats or pease, barley, rye, oats, and lastly skegs. 1804 A. Hunter Georgical Ess. (ed. 4) VI. 259 Upon such land he may profitably obtain a crop of skegs. 1832 White Notts. 44 Skegs, a species of oats, are the ‘Avena stipiformis’ of Linnæus. They grow where nothing else will, and..yield a sweet nourishing food. |
| attrib. 1607 Markham Caval. v. (1617) 9 Now there is a fourth kinde of Oate, which is a Skeg-oate, which is a small light naughtie Oate. 1613 ― Eng. Husb. i. xvii, The skegge Oate..with a beard at the small end like a wilde Oate. |
2. a. Shipbuilding. (See quots.) Also attrib.
| a 1625 Nomencl. Navalis (Harl. MS. 2301), Skegg, is that little parte of the Keele which is cutt slaunting, and is lefte a little without the Sternepost. [Hence in Boteler, Phillips (1658), and later Dicts.] 1664 E. Bushnell Shipwright 21 The little round piece of an Arch, in the Scegg of the Vessell. 1711 Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4) s.v., These Skegs are very useless and inconvenient, for they are apt to snap off, and so endanger the Stern-Post. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 284 Skeg-shores, pieces of plank put up endways under the skeg of a heavy ship, to steady her after part a little at the moment of launching. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2193/2 Skeg,..a knee which unites and braces the stern-post and keel of a boat. |
b. Surfboarding. The fin of a surfboard.
| 1962 T. Masters Surfing Made Easy 65 Skeg, the rudder or fin of a surfboard. 1964 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 17 May 1 These were the now famous Malibu boards. 10 feet long, and made of balsa, with a fin or skeg for greater control. 1968 Surfer Mag. Jan. 73/2 He showed them skeg-first take offs. |
▪ II. skeg, n.2 Now dial.
Also 7 skegg(e.
[Of obscure origin: cf. scad2.]
A species of wild plum, esp. the bullace (Prunus insititia) or the sloe (P. spinosa).
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 278 marg., Some take them for Damascen plums, or rather for Bullois, Skegs, or such like wilde Plums. 1611 Florio, Bulloi, bulloes, slowne, or skegs. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cclx, The Sloes and Skegges grow in Hedges and Copses. 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., Skeg, a wild plum of a reddish colour, growing in hedges. 1851 Sternberg Northampt. Dial., Skeg, the wild damson. c 1895 in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., He laughed at me for calling berries skegs. |
| attrib. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 511 That kind of Peaches or Abricots..love better to bee graffed either upon a skeg or wild Plum-stocke, or Quince. Ibid. 554 Skeg trees, Brambles, the little wild Bulbous Crow-toes. |
▪ III. † skeg, n.3 Obs.
In 6 skegg(e.
= skeck n.
| 1542 St. Papers Hen. VIII, V. 211 His Majeste meaneth not that suche revenge shall procede uppon every skegge or thefte, but uppon a notable rode or hurte. 1545 Ibid. 434 Upon the courrage wherof the Scottes shall perchaunce attempt somme skegg upon the frontiers. |
▪ IV. skeg, n.4 Now dial.
Also 7 sceg.
[Of obscure origin: the form skag is also current in south-western dialects.]
(See quot. 1839.)
| 1625 J. Taylor (Water P.) Arrant Thiefe B 4, A nayle, or sceg, by chance his breech did teare. 1839 Sir G. C. Lewis Gloss. Heref., Skeg, the stump of a branch; also a rent in a piece of cloth such as would be made by a stump of a branch. |
Hence skeg v. trans., to tear (cloth) jaggedly or as with a snag.
| 1890– in dial. glossaries (Glouc., Wilts.). |