Adjacent Words

Scum definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCUM, n.
1. The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquors in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means. The word is also applied to the scoria of metals.
2. The refuse; the recrement; that which is vile or worthless.
The great and the innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people.
Addison.
SCUM, v.t. To take the scum from; to clear off the impure matter from the surface; to skim.
You that scum the molten lead. Dryden.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: worthless people [syn: trash, scum]
2: a film of impurities or vegetation that can form on the surface of a liquid v
1: remove the scum from

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle Dutch schum; akin to Old High German sc?m foam Date: 14th century 1. a. extraneous matter or impurities risen to or formed on the surface of a liquid often as a foul filmy covering — compare pond scum 2 b. the scoria of metals in a molten state ; dross c. a slimy film on a solid or gelatinous object 2. a. refuse b. a low, vile, or worthless person or group of people • scummy adjective II. intransitive verb (scummed; scumming) Date: 1661 to become covered with or as if with scum

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a layer of dirt, froth, or impurities etc. forming at the top of liquid, esp. in boiling or fermentation. 2 (foll. by of) the most worthless part of something. 3 colloq. a worthless person or group. --v. (scummed, scumming) 1 tr. remove scum from; skim. 2 tr. be or form a scum on. 3 intr. (of a liquid) develop scum. Derivatives: scummy adj. (scummier, scummiest) adj. Etymology: ME f. MLG, MDu. schum, OHG scum f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scum Scum, v. i. To form a scum; to become covered with scum. Also used figuratively. Life, and the interest of life, have stagnated and scummed over. --A. K. H. Boyd.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scum Scum, n. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. & Sw. skum, Icel. sk?m, LG. schum, D. schuim, OHG. sc?m, G. schaum; probably from a root meaning, to cover. [root]158. Cf. Hide skin, Meerschaum, Skim, v., Sky.] 1. The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a molten state; dross. Some to remove the scum it did rise. --Spenser. 2. refuse; recrement; anything vile or worthless. The great and innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people. --Addison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scum Scum, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scummed; p. pr. & vb. n. Scumming.] 1. To take the scum from; to clear off the impure matter from the surface of; to skim. You that scum the molten lead. --Dryden & Lee. 2. To sweep or range over the surface of. [Obs.] Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you refer to people as scum, you are expressing your feelings of dislike and disgust for them. (INFORMAL) N-PLURAL [disapproval] 2. Scum is a layer of a dirty or unpleasant-looking substance on the surface of a liquid. ...scum marks around the bath.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

skum (chel'ah; Septuagint ios, "poison" or "verdigris"; compare Plato Rep. 609a): The word is only found in Eze 24:6,11,12, where the Revised Version (British and American) translates it "rust." The fact, however, that the caldron is of brass and therefore not liable to rust, and the astonishment expressed that the fire did not remove it (24:12), would seem to point to the preferability of the translation "scum," the residue of dirt adhering to the caldron from previous use.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Froth, dross, refuse, recrement, scoria.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

The riff-raff, tag-rag, and bob-tail, or lowest order of people.

Moby Thesaurus

aerate, alluvion, alluvium, androcyte, antheridium, antherozoid, apply to, ash, beat, bilge, bilgewater, blanket, block, bones, breakers, canaille, canopy, carrion, cattle, chaff, cinder, clinker, cloak, clothe, cloud, coat, coating, collar, collop, cope, cover, cover up, covering, cowl, cream, culm, cur, curtain, cut, deadwood, deal, deposition, deposits, diluvium, dishwater, disk, ditchwater, draff, dregs, dregs of society, dross, dust, eclipse, ember, enamel, facing, feces, feuille, filings, film, flap, foam, foil, fold, froth, fur, garbage, gash, glop, grounds, gunk, head, hogwash, hood, husks, lacquer, lamella, lamina, laminated glass, laminated wood, lap, lather, lay on, lay over, leaf, leavings, lees, loess, male gamete, mantle, mask, masses, membrane, meringue, milt, mire, mob, moraine, mousse, muck, muffle, obduce, obscure, occult, offal, offscourings, offscum, ooze, orts, overlay, overspread, paint, pane, panel, parings, patina, peel, pellicle, plait, plank, plate, plating, ply, plywood, pollen, potsherds, precipitate, precipitation, prick, proletariat, protein, puff, put on, raff, rags, ragtag and bobtail, rasher, raspings, refuse, revetment, riffraff, rubbish, safety glass, scale, scoria, scourings, scrap iron, scraps, screen, scud, scurf, sea foam, sediment, seed, semen, seminal fluid, settlings, sewage, sewerage, shards, shavings, sheet, shield, shit, shithead, silt, sinter, skin, skunk, slab, slack, slag, slat, slice, slime, slob, slop, slops, slosh, slough, sludge, slush, smut, snake, soapsuds, soot, sordes, souffle, sperm, sperm cell, spermagonium, spermatic fluid, spermatid, spermatiophore, spermatium, spermatocyte, spermatogonium, spermatophore, spermatozoa, spermatozoid, spermatozoon, spindrift, splosh, spoondrift, spray, spread over, spume, stinging, stinker, stubble, sublimate, sud, suds, superimpose, superpose, surf, sweepings, swill, swinish multitude, table, tablet, tares, toad, trash, turd, unwashed, varnish, veil, veneer, vermin, wafer, wastage, waste, waste matter, wastepaper, weeds, whip, whisk, white water