scurfy, a.
(ˈskɜːfɪ)
[f. scurf n.1 + -y.]
1. Covered with scurf; suffering from cutaneous disease. Also, of the nature of scurf.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 326/2 Scurfy, vbi scabbyde. 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2803/4 A bright bay Mare,..with.. scurffy Heels before. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) Dict. Cc 2, Lepra, a dry Scab that makes the Skin scurfy. 1804 Med. Jrnl. XII. 404 By persevering in the use of these remedies,..the white scurfy scales intirely disappeared. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 513 A head which has been scurfy for many years becomes sore and eczematous. |
2. transf. Covered as with scurf incrusted; resembling scurf.
| 1731 Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 201 Those Diamonds that lay more superficially, and exposed to the Air and Sun were more scurfy, and by Consequence lost more by polishing than the other. 1849 W. H. Harvey Sea-Side Bk. 232 Very similar to the barnacle is the animal of the Balanus, whose shells cover, in scurfy patches, the surface of exposed rocks. |
b. spec. in Bot. (See quots.)
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 79 Scurfy (squarrosus) applied to a cup in compound flowers, the scales of which are bent outwards at the ends, so as to give the whole a ragged appearance. 1871 W. A. Leighton Lichen-Flora 9 Thallus crustaceous, squamose, scurfy, powdery [etc.]. |
† 3. Of turf: Forming a thin crust. Obs. rare—1.
| 1710 Phil. Trans. XXVII. 297 A Scurfy Heath Turf will at last grow on the Top of it. |