scambler Sc.
(ˈskæmblə(r))
Also 6 scamler, skam(e)lar.
[app. f. scamble v. + -er1.
The vb., however, is app. not recorded in Sc. before the 19th c., and derivation from scamble n.1, a bench, would not be inconsistent with the sense. Cf. Gael. sgimilear.]
A parasite, sponger.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxiii. 45 On ȝour hienes follows eik..Scaffaris, and scamleris in a nuke, And hall huntaris of draik and duik. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 37 Skaldit skaitbird, and commoun skamelar. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. iii. (S.T.S.) II. 153 Þe maist parte of þe knichtis..war passand like skamlars throw þe cuntre. 1721 J. Kelly Sc. Prov. 274 It is well ken'd your Father's Son was never a Scambler. [Foot-note. One that goes about among his Friends for Meat.] 1755 Johnson Scambler (Scottish), a bold intruder upon one's generosity or table. |