ˈscapethrift Obs. exc. arch.
[f. scape v. + thrift.]
A spendthrift.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. ii. 384 How, pyke-harnes, scape⁓thryft! how, pike-harnes, how! 1526 Skelton Magnif. 761 Howe be it, of Scape Thryfte your clokes smelleth musty. 1577–87 Holinshed Hist. Scot. 263/1 He gathered a power of wicked scapethrifts..burnt the towne [etc.]. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. i. 3 Scape⁓thrifts, who have but the purse of a private man, yet will spend like a Prince. 1838 Gentl. Mag. CVIII. ii. 71 A scape⁓thrift laid his hand on his father's plough. |