▪ I. scum, n.
(skʌm)
Forms: 3, 5 scume, 4 skume, 4–6 scome, 5–7 scumme, 6 scomme, skomme, scoomme, 6–7 skumme, 7 skom(e, 7–8 skum, scumm, 5– scum.
[Identical with MLG. schûm masc. (MSw., Sw., Norw., Da. skum), MDu. schuum masc., neut., schûme, fem. (Du. schuim neut.), OHG. scûm masc. (MHG. schûm, mod.G. schaum):—OTeut. *skūmo-, f. Teut. and Indogermanic root *skeu- to cover. The Teut. word was adopted in Rom. as OF. escume (mod.F. écume), Pr., Sp., Pg. escuma, It. schiuma. For the shortening of the vowel (which, as the spelling scome shows, had taken place already in the 14th c.), cf. thumb, plum.
The proximate source is uncertain. The word cannot represent an OE. *sc{uacu}m, which would have given an initial sh. The locality of the early quots. does not favour adoption from Scandinavian, and the word is not found in ON., the mod. Scandinavian form being prob. from LG. The mod. Eng. form cannot well come from the OF., though that may have been the source of the ME. scume, assuming that the u represents the sound (yː). Possibly the form adopted from OF. may have been replaced by one imported from MDu. or MLG. as a term of brewing or some other industry.]
† 1. Foam, froth; pl. bubbles. Obs.
In the first quot. the identity and meaning of the word are doubtful.
| a 1250 Prov. ælfred 334 in O.E. Misc. 122 For hit seyþ in þe loþ as scumes forteoþ. 1340 Ayenb. 32 Ase deþ þe tavernyers þet velleþ þe mesure mid scome. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. met. vii. 39 And the bristlede boor markede with scomes [L. spumis notavit] the shuldres of Hercules. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P. R. xix. xi. (1495) 871 Also white matere is gendryd of thynnynge and spredynge of ayre as it faryth in skume. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xv. 53 Gnawyng his bytte garnysshed wyth botones of golde, alle charged wyth the scume of the horse. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) K k, They haue growen as a hole piece, and sodeynly wasted as a skumme. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 336 Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated, Though without Venus' ayd they be created Of th' Ocean scum. 1694 tr. Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 29 The following Wave raiseth it again, with much curled and foaming Scum. |
| fig. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1664) 169 The scum & froth of my letters I father upon my own unbeleeving heart. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xvi. 421 Though malice boyled hot in their hearts, yet no scumme ran over in their mouthes. |
2. † a. Dross which rises to the surface in the purifying of a metal; refuse, slag.
Obs.| 1526 Grete Herball clx. (1529) K iij, One or two vnces of lytargy or scomme of syluer. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. ix. 233 There was great store of these poore mettalls, whereof they made no great account, but were reiected..as the skumme of the good mettall. 1811 W. J. Hooker Iceland (1813) II. 201 No. 1 [a specimen of lava] resembles externally the scum of iron. |
b. A film or layer of floating matter formed upon the surface of a liquid in a state of fermentation, ebullition, etc.; hence, a film formed upon stagnant, foul water, etc. More generally, any undesirable surface layer or deposit,
usu. but not necessarily on a liquid.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 449/2 Scome, or scum of fletynge, spuma. 1530 Palsgr. 268/2 Scumme of a potte, éscume. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 321 Floting aboue the water lyke a scoomme. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 122 Whereon floweth a thick skum of liquid Bitumen. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 283 Put it [the finest honey] up warm into Pots by it self;..two or three days time work up a Scum of course Wax, Dross, and other stuff. 1748 Anson's Voy. I. v. 63 After it [water] has been in the cask a day or two it begins to purge itself,..and is soon covered over with a green scum. 1820 Shelley Sensit. Pl. iii. 70 Spawn, weeds, and filth, a leprous scum, Made the running rivulet thick and dumb. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 18 The green scum, which floats upon ponds, ditches, &c., and which consists of the cells of a minute Cryptogamic Plant. 1857 G. Bird's Urin. Deposits (ed. 5) 380 When saccharine urine is left in a warm place, a scum soon forms on its surface. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 750/1 Scum,..a surface formation of lime crystals appearing on new cement work. 1941 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) V. 573/1 Silica scum is sometimes found on the top of tank-melted glass if the melting temperature is not very high. 1967 E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset xiv. 211 The albumen image..may look clear and free from ink when the grain is full of scum, which will readily ink-up on the press run with the soft machine ink. |
c. fig.| 1648 W. Jenkyn Blind Guide i. 12 Scum and scurrility making up his whole book. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd iv. xvi. 3 A leaden-witted thief—just huddled Out of the dross and scum of nature. 1875 Farrar Silence & Voices iii. 63 Her literature became a seething scum of cynicism and abomination. |
d. coarse slang (chiefly
U.S.). Semen.
| 1967 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang Suppl. 703/1 Scum (taboo),..semen... Scumbag (taboo),..a condom. 1972 R. A. Wilson Playboy's Bk. of Forbidden Words 257 Scum, the semen. |
3. transf. a. Applied to persons: The offscourings of humanity; the lowest class of the population of a place or country.
| 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. iii. iii, These are the cruell pirates of Argeire, That damned traine, the scum of Affrica. 1610 B. Rich Descr. Irel. 37 The Kerne of Ireland are next in request, the very drosse and scum of the Countrey. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. vi. 25 Scoundrels! Dogs! the Scum of the Earth! 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 56 Many of the scum of our people have been employed in protecting us against foreign enemies. 1889 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne i, Away, ye scum o' Egypt and o' Scotland. |
† b. In particularized sense: An assemblage or body of ‘scum’.
Obs.| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 317 A scum of Brittaines, and base Lackey Pezants. a 1618 Raleigh Apol. 28, I know..what a Scumme of men you have. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 235 As for the Seueritie vsed vpon those which were taken in Kent, it was but vpon a Scumme of People. 1819–22 Shelley Chas. I, ii. 234 Unleash the sword and fire, that in their thirst They may lick up that scum of schismatics. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xxxiv, I was lately Charles of Burgundy, called the Bold—now am I twice beaten by a scum of German peasants. |
† c. Applied to an individual: A worthless wretch.
Obs.| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 168 Froth, and scum thou liest. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe v. H 3 b, Out you base scums, come you to disgrace mee in my wedding shooes? 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. lii, Knockdunder answered, ‘that the soul of such a scum had been long the tefil's property’. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
scum-gatherer;
scum-like adv.;
scum-board,
† -pan = scummer n.1;
scum-soap, a lathering soap [?
orig. G.
schaumseife];
scumspittle nonce-wd., ? scummy or frothy spittle.
| 1898 Daily News 10 Feb. 6/4 Much fat floats on the surface, and is cleared off with *scum-boards. |
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 649 After that sollicitors were suffered in the middest of them all, to be, as it were, the *skum-gatherers of suits. |
| 1821 Byron Juan iii. c, That trash of such sort not alone evades Contempt, but from the bathos' vast abyss Floats *scumlike uppermost. |
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Schuym⁓pan, a Scummer, or a *Scumme-pan. |
| 1852 J. J. Seidel Organ 145 A mixture of fine olive-oil and *scum-soap. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 446 The bulldog growls,..a gobbet of pig's knuckle between his molars through which rabid *scumspittle dribbles. |
▪ II. scum, v. (
skʌm)
Forms: 4–5
scume, 4–6
scome, 4, 6–8
skum, 5
scom, 5–6
scomme,
skom, 5–7
scumme,
skumme, 6
scoum,
skume, 7
scumm, 5–
scum.
[f. the n. Cf. OHG. scûmen (MHG. schûmen, mod.G. schäumen), MLG., MDu. schûmen (mod. Du. schuimen), Da. skumme, Norw. skuma, Sw. skumma; also OF. escumer (mod.F. écumer) and skim v.] † 1. trans. To clear (the surface of a liquid) of impurities or floating matter; to
skim. Also, to remove as scum, to skim
off.
Obs.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P. R. xix. lx. (1495) 897 The pigmentaries other the leche skumyth awaye the fylthe warely wyth a fether. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 242 Take þe white of an ey & scume it, & loke þat þere falle no filþe þeron. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 450/1 Scummyn lycurys, despumo. 1509 Watson Ship of Fools lvii. (1517) O j b, This foole settynge his pottes to the fire is so lunatyke that he taketh no hede to scumme them. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 36 Some scumd the drosse that from the metall came; Some stird the molten owre with ladles great. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 650 That which swimmeth aboue in the manner of fat, they scum it off with their handes, and put it away in a vessell of Tinne. 1662 Comenius' Janua Ling. Triling. 82 The next day after she [sc. the milkmaid] skums the cream which swims on the top. 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 551 As it is dissolving in Water, I have scummed off from some Lumps of it a dark-purple bituminous Substance. 1817 W. Kitchiner Cook's Oracle (1818) 59 The oftener it is scummed, and the cleaner the top of the water is kept, the cleaner will be the meat. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse 19 b, Thou hast skumd ouer the schoole men, and of the froth of their folly, made a dish of diuinitie Brewesse, which the dogges will not eate. 1675 T. Plume Life Hacket 37 Till the heats which boyl in the blouds of youth were well scum'd off, if not quite boyl'd away. 1796 Coleridge Watchman ii. 38 We shall select from each speech whatever lines contain a fact or argument not before urged in the debate, scummed and clarified in the following manner. |
† 2. To scour (the sea or land).
Cf. F.
écumer la mer.
Obs.| c 1420 Brut 385 And for to speke moore of the Erle of the Marche, þat þe King hadde sette to scom þe see and the Coostez of Engelonde for enymys. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xiii. 52 Soo by Merlyns aduys ther were sente fore rydars to skumme the Countreye. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. ii. Wks. 1851 V. 89 Without certain seat, they liv'd by scumming those Seas and shoars as Pyrats. 1690 I. Mather Vind. N. Eng. 44 in Andros Tracts (1869) II. 62 Are not at least Four of the 12, Inhabitants of other Towns? Must they Scumm Water-Town and Cambridge also to pack a Charles-Town Jury? |
† 3. To pass lightly over, ‘skim’ (a surface).
Obs.| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. v. 149 Lyke a foull that..Fleis by the watir, scummand the fludis law. |
† b. fig. To study superficially, ‘skim’. Also
intr. (Const.
upon.)
Obs.| 1625 Bp. R. Montagu App. Cæsar 248 You understand not the state of Limbus Patrum, nor the depth of the Question, but scumme upon the surface, and gibberish you cannot tell for what. 1664 Evelyn tr. Freart's Archit. Pref. 1 There was no need to have scumm'd them [sc. those books] thus superficially over. |
† c. absol. ? To skim the air.
Obs.| 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ii. 120 Lyke as quhen that the gredy gled on hycht Scummand vp in the ayr oft turnis his flycht. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 44 Thus whill she vsde to scum the skyes about, At last she chanced to sore out ower the see Calld Mare Rubrum. |
† 4. to scum together: to collect as scum.
Obs.| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 431, I had almost forgotten to tell you here, of that adoe which Thomas Fawconbridge..made at London with a handfull of rakehelles which he had scummed together in this our shire. |
5. intr. † a. To rise to the surface as scum.
Obs.| 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xxiii. 115 The erthe whiche is in the bottom of thise valeyes [of the sea] scumeth for the hete of the sonne vpward. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xlix. 170 Golde and syluer was no more spared then thoughe it had rayned out of the clowdes, or scomed out of y⊇ see. |
† b. To foam (at the mouth).
Obs.| c 1380 Sir Ferumbr. 3888 Wan Agolafre haþ herd hym speke, For angre þat he ne drast him wreke, A skuntede [read skumede] als a bore. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 156 Galafre..began to scumme at the mouth. |
c. To throw up foul matter as a scum; to become covered with a scum.
| 1661 [implied in scumming vbl. n. 1 b]. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 342 Stir them twice a day at least, or they will scum over. 1839–52 Bailey Festus 53 Belike you think your lives will dribble out As brooks in summer dry up. Let us see! Try: dike them up: they stagnate—thicken—scum. 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 373/2 The mass scums very much. |