▪ I. scud, n.1
(skʌd)
Also 7 scudde, 8 scudd.
[f. scud v.; in some uses perh. onomatopœic.]
1. a. The action of scudding; hurried movement.
| 1609 B. Jonson Case Altered iv. iv, O how she skudded, O sweet scud, how she tripped, O delicate trip and goe. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Scud, the Course or motion of the Clouds, in Fleeting. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sci. i. §54 (1873) 42 The scud of the clouds before the wind. 1880 Meredith Tragic Com. xviii. (1892) 241 At times he came flashing through the scud of her thoughts. |
b. A certain figure in skating.
| 1892 Gentlew. Bk. Sports I. 145 The hand-in-hand figures, such as the Mercury, the Q scud, the half-double scud [etc.]. |
2. a. Light clouds driven rapidly before the wind.
| 1669 Dryden & Davenant Tempest i. i, The Scud comes against the Wind, 'twill blow hard. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. ii. 128 The black'ning ocean curls; the winds arise; And the dark scud in swift succession flies. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. xiii, The darkening scud comes on. 1885 H. O. Forbes Nat. Wand. E. Archip. 209 Peaks..along whose flanks the clouds rolled upwards in white humps and scuds. |
b. A driving shower (of rain or snow).
| 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 187 With every change [of wind] we had a scud of Wind and Rain. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 3 After such a scudd of rain cool cloudy weather ensues. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 207, I had but one little scud during the day; just enough for St. Swithin to swear by. 1879 Gd. Words Jan. 48 The rain blowing in drizzling scuds. |
c. A sudden gust of wind.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xviii. (1737) 76 Some Gusts, or Scuds of Wind..arose. 1863 ‘C. Bede’ Tour in Tartan-land 293, I beheld my wife..borne in a wild scud immediately in front of the three-abreast horses. 1893 ‘Q.’ (Quiller-Couch) Delect. Duchy 193 A sullen pond, over which the wind drove in scuds. |
d. Ocean foam or spray driven by the wind; also transf. of ice or snow.
| 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado xxi. I. 143 Bailing out the scud thrown over the gunwale by every surge. 1894 N. Brooks Tales of Maine Coast 218 The air was drenched with spume and flying scud. |
| transf. 1884 Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 63 She..was..shielding her face from the scud of ice flung from the mare's heels. 1969 N. W. Parsons Upon Sagebrush Harp xv. 85 Usually, at dawn the wind died and a knee-high scud sharp as glass would skitter sullenly along the surface of the hard-packed snow. |
e. attrib. Also Comb., as scud-like a.
| 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 342 Light scud clouds driving across heavy masses show wind and rain. 1866 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 138 A ‘dirty’ looking kind of clouds, scud-like, rising. 1897 Daily News 4 Mar. 7/1 The boat disappeared in a yeast of scud rain and spindrift. |
3. School slang. A swift runner.
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. v, You ain't a bad scud, not by no means. Ibid. i. vii, Unless you're a first-rate scud. |
▪ II. scud, n.2
(skʌd)
† 1. Dirt, refuse. Obs.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 95 For now the scudde and scumme passed away, and the dyke was as cleare and fresh att the last as att the first. |
2. Coal-mining. (See quot. 1883.)
| 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby I. 59 Scud or ming coal. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Scud, iron pyrites embedded in coal seams. Ibid., Scud (Leicester), very thin layers of soft matter, such as clay, sooty coal, &c. |
3. Tanning. Dirt, lime, fat, and fragments of hair which must be removed from a hide. Cf. scud v.3 2.
| 1885 A. Watt Art of Leather Manufacture xxvi. 324 The ‘scud’ is removed by working the pelt upon the beam with the blunt knife. 1969 T. C. Thorstensen Pract. Leather Technol. vi. 96 The hair-destruction system may result in uneven swelling and in the formation of scud (surface dirt) on the hides. Ibid. 98 The strong oxidizing action of the chlorine dioxide and chlorine results in the bleaching of the hair, and there is no dark scud left on the hide. |
▪ III. scud, n.3 dial.
(skʌd)
[Belongs to scud v.4]
A wisp of twisted straw, used for stopping a drain.
| 1843 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. i. 26 We fill up either with haulm.., or ling,..or a scud of straw, or turf. 1847 Ibid. VIII. ii. 279 The materials..are ‘haulm’ (stubble), straw, ‘scuds’ (twisted straw), ling, or bushes. |
▪ IV. scud, v.1
(skʌd)
Also 6 scudde, skude, squdde, 6–7 scudd, 6–8 skud, 7 scude. pa. tense 7 scud; pa. pple. 6 scudde.
[Of obscure etymology.
First recorded in the 16th c., but prob. much older in colloquial use. The initial sc shows that the word cannot descend from OE.: if not formed onomatopœically or by phonetic symbolism, it was presumably adopted either from Scandinavian or from LG. or Du. Formally, a possible origin would be MLG., MDu. schudden to shake (:—OS. scuddian), whence Sw. skudda, Da. skudde; but the sense seems not sufficiently near. The ON. skunda, to hasten, agrees in sense but not in form. It has been usual to refer the word to Da. skyde (with long vowel) to shoot (= ON. skióta), skud shot (= ON. skot), but the Da. change of t into d is a late development, and is not represented in Eng. words of Anglo-Danish origin. It may be noted that several dialects have a synonymous scut vb., of which scud may be an altered form. As the earliest instance of scud refers to the movement of a hare, and this has always been a prominent application of the vb., it seems possible that it may be connected with scut n., the tail of a hare, sometimes applied to the animal itself.]
1. a. intr. To run or move briskly or hurriedly; to dart nimbly from place to place.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 721/2 Tindall hath, as ye haue hearde, scudded in & out lyke an hare y{supt} had .xx. brace of greyhoundes after her. 1553 Respublica 1632, I have trodde & scudde tyll my winde is almost paste. 1567 Drant Horace, Epist. i. i. B viij, Sumtymes I skude abowt the towne in ciuyll matters drounde. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. H 1, My sinewes tremble, and my panting heart Scuds round about my bosome to goe out. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. ii. 25 The Trout within the weeds did scud. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 344 Animals..bounding over the Hills, and skudding along the Plains. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lxx, Some Richmond-hill ascend, some scud to Ware. 1822 Lady Granville Lett. 10 Mar. (1894) I. 223, I never saw him so slim and active, and he scuds into dinner [etc.]. 1830 Tennyson ‘How’ & ‘Why’ 30 The black owl scuds down the mellow twilight. 1866 J. H. Newman Gerontius iv. 30 They scud away as cowards from the fight. 1894 Mrs. Ritchie Chapters fr. Mem. ix. 131 He stood looking at us fixedly,..and the train scudded off. |
b. In the imperative: Be off! Make haste!
| 1602 Middleton Blurt iv. i. 68 Nay, scud:..begone and mum. 1649 Dk. Newcastle Country Capt. iii. 51 Scud and bringe wine you varletts. c 1854 Thackeray Wolves & Lamb i. Wks. 1869 XXII. 353 There's the outer bell. Scud, you vagabond! |
2. To sail or move swiftly on the water. Now chiefly (and in technical nautical use exclusively), to run before a gale with little or no sail.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneid iii. (Arb.) 85 Italye see yoonder: thither with nauye be squdding. a 1592 Greene Opharion (1599) 39 (Song of Arion) Seated vpon the crooked Dolphins back, Scudding amidst the purple coloured waues:..Neptune..Threw forth such stormes as [etc.]. 1600 Holland Livy xxxvii. 951 Pausistratus..skudded amaine with his ship to the entrance of the haven. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 17 She scuds before the Sea very well. 1697 Dryden æneid v. 1086 They scud before the Wind. a 1704 T. Brown Walk round Lond., Thames Wks. 1709 III. iii. 60 The next [person] that we met was a jolly Parson, skudding from Lambeth-House in a Skuller. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Scudding, A ship either scuds with a sail extended on her foremast, or, if the storm is excessive, without any sail, which..is called scudding under bare poles. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. vi. 109 Having fairly scudded before the gale, we arrived by the middle of the day at the Sauce posta. 1884 A. Brassey in Good Words Mar. 163/1 There was too much wind to scud. |
3. Of clouds, foam, etc.: To be driven by the wind.
| 1699 Garth Dispens. v. 93 The rising Mists skud o're the dewy Lawns. 1793 Coleridge Songs of Pixies ii, When..scuds the cloud before the gale. 1833 Tennyson Dream Fair Women 39 Crisp foam-flakes scud along the level sand, Torn from the fringe of spray. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xxxviii, They [the hours] passed like drift cloud—like the rack scudding before a storm. |
4. trans. To pass, travel, or sail quickly over.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 424 Then scud I France, and cross'd the Pyrheneise. c 1750 Shenstone Ruined Abbey 197 His less'ning flock In snowy groups diffusive scud the vale. 1802 Scott Cadyow Castle xiii, The startled red-deer scuds the plain. |
| transf. 1895 Meredith Amazing Marr. I. iv. 41 Immense was the range of vision scudding the peaks. |
5. dial. a. To throw (a flat stone) so as to make it skim the surface of a body of water. b. To shoot or discharge (a load of herrings) into the hold of a vessel.
See Eng. Dial. Dict., and cf. scudding-pole, -stone (scudding vbl. n.1 b).
| 1874 Holdsworth Deep-sea Fishing 110 ‘Scudding the fish’, as it is termed, enables them to be easily shaken out of the net, whence they fall on the deck and then through temporary openings into the well or hold. |
6. Sc. To slap, beat, strike, spank; to beat down.
| 1814 W. Nicholson Tales in Verse & Miscellaneous Poems 123 And farmers, keen to cut the crap, Lest win's should scud it. 1866 J. Smith Merry Bridal (ed. 2) 23 Lassie, when I get ye I'll scud ye till I'm sair. 1925 United Free Church Mission Record Dec. 569/2 The risen wind scudded my cheek—wet, stinging, and with the bite of the sea. 1976 Scotsman 24 Dec. (Weekend Suppl.) 1/1 Any more cracks and I'll scud yer hint end for ye. |
▪ V. scud, v.2 Sc. ? Obs.
[Of obscure origin: cf. scuds n. pl.]
trans. ‘To quaff, to drink liberally’ (Jamieson, 1808).
| a 1728 Ramsay Monk & Miller's W. 3 You wha laughing scud brown Ale, Leave Jinks a wee, and hear a Tale. |
▪ VI. scud, v.3
(skʌd)
[? f. scud n.2]
1. dial. (See quot.)
| 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 350 Scud, to clean or scrape with a ‘spittle’ [i.e. a small spade]. |
2. Tanning. To remove remaining hairs, dirt, etc., from (skins or hides) with a hand-knife.
| 1880 Times 27 Sept. 12/6 The cost of unhairing, fleshing, and scudding all kinds of skins appears to have been reduced. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 372/2 The..remaining hairs, and other dirt, can now be very readily scudded out. |
▪ VII. scud, v.4 dial.
(skʌd)
[Belongs to scud n.3]
trans. To make straw into ‘scuds’.
| 1803 Young Annals Agric. XL. 332 (E.D.S.) Straw twisted together (provincially called skudded) is used [in covering drains]. 1843 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. i. 40 The system of shallow parallel drains filled with wood and straw, or straw only, twisted or ‘scudded’, is universally adopted. |