▪ I. scrow, n.
(skrəʊ)
Also 3–6 scrowe, 5 skraw, ? skrew, 5–7 skrow, 6 schrowe, 6–7 skro.
[Aphetic a. AF. escrowe (see escrow).]
† 1. = scroll n. 1. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 282 Ȝif þu hauest knif oðer cloð, mete oðer drunch, scrowe oðer quaer, holi monne uroure. 13.. Coer de L. 3395 Looke every mannys name thou wryte, Upon a scrowe off parchemyn. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 5 Filateries, that ben smale scrowis. c 1400 Brut ccxxxi. 313 And whan they had þus swore, þey token her scrowes that þe othes were comprehendid in, to the Notaries. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 99 Wryte þis charme on a skrowe. 1550–1 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 392 Paid for a scrow to syng on ij d. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 397 Tha offir to the Quene a scrow of requeist conteining sum poyntes of thair schisme, inuentiounis, and deuyses. 1615 Irish Act Jas. I, c. 9 (1621) 444 Yet neuerthelesse all estreates of such fines..shall..be orderly charged and deliuered by scrowes into the office of the pype in the court of Exchequer. |
† b. pl. Writings. Obs.
| 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 26 Dirtin Dumbar, quhome on blawes thow thy boist? Pretendand the to wryte sic skaldit skrowis. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. 624 Knowynge that y⊇ sayd Baylly vsed to bere scrowys and prophecye aboute hym, shewyng to his company that he was an enchanter and of ylle disposicion. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 112 Thy scrows obscure are borowed fra some buike. 1646 Stirling Burgh Rec. (1887) I. 190 The haill actis and scrowis that ar not buikit..in the counsall book. |
† 2. The expanse of heaven, the sky. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 910 As þe welkyn shold walt, a wonderfull noyse Skremyt vp to the skrow with a skryke ffelle. |
† 3. A note, memorandum. Obs.
| 1424 Paston Lett. I. 18 This scrowe is mad only for the informacion of the worthy and worshipfull lordes the arbitrores. c 1538 R. Cowley in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 94 There coulde be founde no maner roll, boke, or scrowe of the Kinges Revenues. |
† b. A list, inventory, schedule. Obs.
| a 1545 in Archæologia XXXIV. 38 Two prepositores in euery forme, whiche doth giue in a schrowe the absentes names at any lecture. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 196 Heirefter how lang king Frances lyuet, he labouret to put the scotis in the skrow of his maist faythful seruandes. |
† c. clerk of the scrow = rotulorum clericus, Clerk of the Register. Obs.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 435 James Makgil quha clark is called of the lytle scrow. |
4. pl. or collect. sing. Strips or clippings of hide or leather used for making glue.
| 1339–40 Sacrist Rolls Ely (1907) II. 99 Item in iiij buss. de strowes [read scrowes] empt. pro cole [i.e. glue] inde faciend. 1811 Dues on Goods in Thom's Hist. Aberd. II. 54 Scrows of ox and cow, or other hides, per ton, 0. 4. 0. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 133/1 So prepared the ‘scrows’ or glue pieces, as they are termed, may be kept a long time without undergoing change. |
Add: 5. [Perh. a different word.] A state of confusion or agitation; a commotion or fuss. Sc. and north. dial.
| 1808 J. Mayne Siller Gun iii. 73 To bell the cat wi' sic a scrow, Some swankies ettled; But oh! they got a fearfu' cow, Ere a' was settled! 1861 E. Waugh Rambles in Lake Country 184 Then, there was a girt cry—‘Eh, Mr. Wilson's i' t' watter!’..and there was sek a scrowe as nivver. 1936 A. Ransome Pigeon Post xvi. 172 You'd no call to bring her chasing up the valley for nothing, and her in a scrow with her papering and painting. 1984 Jrnl. Lakeland Dial. Soc. No. 46. 19 Henry Becky wazn't ower suited, an did nowt but twine aboot scrow Annie waz mekin. |
▪ II. scrow, a. dial.
(skraʊ)
[? cogn. w. shrew.]
(See quots.)
| 1674 Ray S. & E.C. Words 77 Skrow: surly, dogged, used most adverbially, as to look skrow [printed shrow], i.e. to look sowrly. 1859 Hughes Scouring W. Horse vii. 182 Owld Tovey at this did look main scrow. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Scrow, (1) Cross. (2) Angry, scowling. (3) Dark, threatening, as weather, ‘A scrow night’. |
▪ III. scrow
variant of screw n.2