▪ I. scrab, n.1 Sc. and north.
(skræb)
Also 6 skrab.
[Prob. of Scandinavian origin: cf. Sw. dial. skrabba of the same meaning, Sw. scrabba sea-scorpion.]
The crab or wild apple = crab n.2 Also attrib., as scrab-apple, scrab-tree.
| 1467–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 92 Pro ij bus. de Scrabbez emp. pro verius inde fiend., xxijd. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. iii. 18 Braid trunschouris dyd thai fyll..Wyth wyld scrabbis and wther frutis large. 1528–9 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 163 Scrabstre medow. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 47 Malus Sylvestris in Englyshe in the Southe countre, a Crab tre, in y⊇ North countre a Scrabtre. 1587 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1860) 157, iiij mells for brusing of skrabbes, 6{supd}. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Vnedo, fructus arbutii, a scrab-aple. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Scrab-apple. |
▪ II. † scrab, n.2 Sc. Obs.
[Cf. scrub n.]
In plural, ‘Stumps of heath or roots’ (Jam.).
| 1768 Ross Helenore i. 20 A hail half mile she had at least to gang, Thro' birns an' pits an' scrabs, and heather lang. |
▪ III. scrab, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(skræb)
Also 5 skrab.
[a. Du. schrabben: allied to scrape v.]
1. trans. To scratch, claw. lit. and fig.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard xxxix. (Arb.) 106 Reyner..stode aboue the wynde skrabbing and casting wyth his feet the duste [orig. boven wijnds staen scrabben in dat slof]. 1808 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXVI. 111 The police of the metropolis is already curious..enough: without employing new ferrets to scrab the remaining pleasures out of their skulking-holes. 1823 Moor Suffolk Words s.v., A dog scrabs a rabbit from its burrough. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. s.v., The cat near scrabbed his eyes out. |
2. To snatch, grab.
| 1890 P. H. Emerson Wild Life on Tidal Water xxiii. 100 When we see them Tom Taylors [i.e. Stormy Petrels] we scrab the nets in quick as we can. |
Hence scrabbed ppl. a., scratched; also in scrabbed eggs (see quot.). ˈscrabbing vbl. n.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Scrabbed-eggs, a lenten dish, composed of eggs boiled hard, chopped and mixed, with a seasoning of butter, salt, and pepper. 1880 Sir S. Lakeman Kaffir-Land 13 That small garden..was overrun with weeds and scarred with poultry scrabbings. 1890 Daily News 20 Nov. 5/1 Small heed was paid in those days to scrabbed face and bleeding hands. |