▪ I. † scuse, n. Obs.
Also 6 skuse, 7 schuce.
Aphetic form of excuse n.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froissart I. ccclxiii. 52 So the knight coude make no scuse. a 1553 Udall Roister D. v. ii, Better (they say) a badde scuse, than none. 1592 Greene Disput. 8 Tis as hard to find a Hare without a Muse, as a woman without a scuse. a 1634 Chapman Alphonsus iii. (1654) 35 If all be well with us, that schuce shall serve. |
▪ II. scuse, v.
(skjuːz)
Also 6 scowse, skewse, skuse, 9– 'scuse.
Aphetic form of excuse v. Now chiefly in representations of colloq. speech, esp. in form 'scuse.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 186 They that had done it scused them. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 577/2 To skewse hym and keepe hym from beatynge. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 70 He wolde have gevyne moch to a be scowsyd. 1594 R. C[arew] Tasso (1881) 110 Ile you to Captaine skuse. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxiv. 250 Would to heauen, that all the abiect blood, In all your veines, had Hector scusde. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iii. ix. (1849) 114 The gentleman will ‘scuse me’. 1864 Dickens Mut. Fr. (1865) I. 231 'Scuse me, Lawyer Lightwood, it's a part of the truth. 1887 T. E. Brown Doctor 22 'Scuse me, your honour. 1902 [see excuse v. 6 b]. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 418 All poppycock, you'll scuse me saying. 1971 G. Sims Dead Hand i. iv. 46 Scuse fingers. |