scabby, a.
(ˈskæbɪ)
[f. scab n. + -y.]
1. a. = scabbed a. 1.
| 1526 Grete Herball cccclxxiii. (1529) B b j b, It causeth also the skynne that is scabby to be fayre and clene. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 122 Parts of the leaves grow scabby. 1674 J. Scheffer Hist. Lapland v. 15 They are nasty and scabby, and use not to comb their heads. 1742 tr. Heister's Surg. (1768) I. 288 There is still a worse kind of Tinea, or scabby Head, covering the whole hairy Scalp with an ash⁓coloured thick Crust. 1759 Brown Compl. Farmer 86 Pigeons are sometimes apt to be scabby on the backs and breasts. 1801 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Tears & Smiles Wks. 1812 V. 55 Thus scabby heads, the proverb says, For ever hate a comb. 1829 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) V. 637 Ecpyesis porrigo. Scabby scall. 1883 Sayce Fresh Light Anc. Mon. 81 Anything leprous or scabby or lean is forbidden. |
| Comb. a 1697 Aubrey in Selden's Table-t. (Arb.) 4 Selden was a long scabby-pol'd boy. 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3041/4 A middle sized man Scaby faced, with blotches. |
b. Proverbially and allusively (
cf. scabbed 1 d). Also
scabby sheep: a corrupt person, a moral leper.
| 1610 [see scabbed 1 d]. 1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 176 At the Guildhall, those worthy Aldermen excluded were looked on as scabby sheep. 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 99/1, I was the scabby sheep of the family, and I've been punished for it. 1894 Hall Caine Manxman iii. xviii, One scabby sheep infects the flock. |
c. Coal-mining. (See
quots.)
| 1888 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms s.v. Claggy, when the roof is..uneven or scabby. 1893–4 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., A scabby-roof is when the coal does not part freely from the stone at the top. |
d. Iron-founding.
= scabbed a. 1 e.
| 1883 T. D. West Amer. Foundry Pract. 246 Scabby castings in green and sand moulds. |
e. Printing. Blotchy, through uneven inking.
| 1882 J. Southward Pract. Printing xiii. 461 Dust..spoils the ink, surrounds the rollers and makes them work ‘scabby’. |
2. fig. Contemptible, mean, vile; stingy, ‘shabby’. Now only
vulgar.
| 1712 Odes of Horace viii. 12/1 This scabby Lection has passed current in all the Editions. 1861 Meredith Evan Harrington I. vi. 92 A scabby sixpence? |
3. Special collocations:
scabby mouth (
Austral. and
N.Z.), a viral disease of sheep characterized by ulceration around the mouth;
scabby sheep: see sense 1 b above.
| 1938 J. R. Greig et al. Hutyra's Special Path. & Therapeutics (ed. 4) 579 (heading) Lip and leg ulceration, scabby mouth. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Aug. 100/2 On farms where scabby mouth occurs each new crop of lambs should be vaccinated, and this is most conveniently done at marking. 1966 V. G. Cole Dis. Sheep 217 Scabby mouth can be transmitted to the hands of persons handling affected sheep. |