Adjacent Words

Scurvy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCUR'VY, n. [from scurf; scurvy for scurfy; Low L. scorbutus.] A disease characterized by great debility, a pale bloated face, bleeding spongy gums, large livid tumors on the body, offensive breath, aversion to exercise, oppression at the breast or difficult respiration, a smooth, dry, shining skin, etc.; a disease most incident to persons who live confined, or on salted meats without fresh vegetables in cold climates.
SCUR'VY, a.
1. Scurfy; covered or affected by scurf or scabs; scabby; diseased with scurvy.
2. Vile; mean; low; vulgar; worthless; contemptible; as a scurvy fellow.
He spoke scurvy and provoking terms. Shak.
That scurvy custom of taking tobacco. Swift.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of the most contemptible kind; "abject cowardice"; "a low stunt to pull"; "a low-down sneak"; "his miserable treatment of his family"; "You miserable skunk!"; "a scummy rabble"; "a scurvy trick" [syn: abject, low, low-down, miserable, scummy, scurvy] n
1: a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) [syn: scurvy, scorbutus]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: ²scurvy Date: circa 1565 a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C and characterized by spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and a bleeding into the skin and mucous membranes II. adjective Etymology: scurf Date: 1579 arousing disgust or scorn ; contemptible, despicable <a scurvy trick> Synonyms: see contemptible • scurvily adverb • scurviness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds, esp. formerly affecting sailors. --adj. (scurvier, scurviest) paltry, low, mean, dishonourable, contemptible. Phrases and idioms: scurvy grass any cresslike seaside plant of the genus Cochlearia, orig. taken as a cure for scurvy. Derivatives: scurvied adj. scurvily adv. Etymology: SCURF + -Y(1): noun sense by assoc. with F scorbut (cf. SCORBUTIC)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scurvy Scur"vy, a. [Compar. Scurvier; superl. Scurviest.] [From Scurf; cf. Scurvy, n.] 1. Covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; scurfy; specifically, diseased with the scurvy. ``Whatsoever man . . . be scurvy or scabbed.'' --lev. xxi. 18, 20. 2. Vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible. ``A scurvy trick.'' --Ld. Lytton. That scurvy custom of taking tobacco. --Swift. [He] spoke spoke such scurvy and provoking terms. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scurvy Scur"vy, n. [Probably from the same source as scirbute, but influenced by scurf, scurfy, scurvy, adj.; cf. D. scheurbuik scurvy, G. scharbock, LL. scorbutus. Cf. Scorbute.] (Med.) A disease characterized by livid spots, especially about the thighs and legs, due to extravasation of blood, and by spongy gums, and bleeding from almost all the mucous membranes. It is accompanied by paleness, languor, depression, and general debility. It is occasioned by confinement, innutritious food, and hard labor, but especially by lack of fresh vegetable food, or confinement for a long time to a limited range of food, which is incapable of repairing the waste of the system. It was formerly prevalent among sailors and soldiers.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Scurvy is a disease that is caused by a lack of vitamin C.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The name "Gareb" is used in Jer 31:39 as the placename of a hill at or near the southeastern corner of Jerusalem, probably from the bare roughness of the surface of its slope at the southern end of the Wady er-Rababi. Another hill of this name is mentioned near Shiloh in the Talmud, and the name is given to one of David's warriors (2Sa 23:38).

Scurvy etymologically means any condition of scaliness of skin which can be scraped off, such as dandruff.

Alexander Macalister

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Scurfy, scabbed, scabby. 2. Vile, mean, low, vulgar, base, bad, sorry, contemptible, despicable, worthless, pitiful, abject. 3. Offensive, mischievous, malicious.

Moby Thesaurus

Lombardy leprosy, abject, abominable, anemia, ariboflavinosis, arrant, atrocious, awful, bad, base, base-minded, beastly, beggarly, beneath contempt, beriberi, blameworthy, brutal, cachexia, cheap, cheesy, chlorosis, common, contemptible, crummy, debased, deficiency anemia, degraded, deplorable, depraved, dermatitis, despicable, detestable, dire, dirty, disgusting, dishonorable, dreadful, egregious, enormous, execrable, fetid, filthy, flagrant, foul, fulsome, gaudy, gimcracky, goiter, grave, greensickness, grievous, gross, hateful, heinous, horrible, horrid, ignoble, infamous, keratomalacia, kwashiorkor, lamentable, little, loathsome, lousy, low, low-down, low-minded, lumpen, maidism, malnutrition, mangy, mean, measly, meretricious, miserable, monstrous, nasty, nefarious, night blindness, noisome, notorious, obnoxious, odious, offensive, osteomalacia, osteoporosis, outrageous, paltry, pathetic, pellagra, pernicious anemia, petty, pitiable, pitiful, poky, poor, protein deficiency, rachitis, rank, regrettable, reprehensible, reptilian, repulsive, rickets, rotten, rubbishy, sad, scabby, scandalous, schlock, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scuzzy, shabby, shameful, shocking, shoddy, small, sordid, sorry, squalid, struma, terrible, too bad, trashy, trumpery, two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, unclean, unmentionable, valueless, vile, villainous, vitamin deficiency, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched, xerophthalmia