Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SCOWL, v.t.

To drive with a scowl or frowns. Milton.

SCOWL'ED, pp.

Frowned at.

SCOWL'ING, ppr.

Contracting the brows into wrinkles; frowning; expressing displeasure or sullenness.

SCOWL'ING-LY, adv.

With a wrinkled, frowning aspect; with a sullen look.

SCRAB'BLE, v.i. [D. krabbelen, to scrape, to scribble; krabben, to scrape; G. krabbeln, graben. This word belongs to the root of scrape, L. scribo, Eng. grave, engrave, &c. See Scrape.]

1. To scrape, paw or scratch with the hands; to move along on the hands and knees by clawing with the hands; to scramble; as, to scrabble up a cliff or a tree. [A word in common popular use in New England, but not elegant.]
2. To make irregular or crooked marks; as, children scrabble when they begin to write; hence, to make irregular and unmeaning marks. David … scrabbled on the doors of the gate. – 1 Sam. xxi.

SCRAB'BLE, v.t.

To mark with irregular lines or letters; as, to scrabble paper.

SCRAB'BLING, ppr.

Scraping; scratching; scrambling; making irregular marks.

SCRAF'FLE, v.i.

1. To scramble; to be industrious. [Obs.] – Brocket.
2. To shuffle; to use evasion. [Obs.] – Grose.

SCRAG, n. [This word is formed from the root of rag, crag, Gr. ῥαχια, ῥαχις, rack. Class Rg.]

Something thin or lean with roughness. A raw-boned person is called a scrag, but the word is vulgar.

SCRAG'GED, or SCRAG'GY, a. [supra.]

1. Rough with irregular points or a broken surface; as, a scraggy hill; a scragged back bone. Bentley.
2. Lean with roughness. – Arbuthnot.

SCRAG'GED-NESS, or SCRAG'GI-NESS, n.

Leanness, or leanness with roughness; ruggedness; roughness occasioned by broken irregular points.

SCRAG'GI-LY, adv.

With leanness and roughness.

SCRAM'BLE, n.

1. An eager contest for something, in which one endeavors to get the thing before another. The scarcity of money enhances the price and increases the scramble. – Locke.
2. The act of climbing by the help of the hands.

SCRAM'BLE, v.i. [D. schrammen, to scratch. It is not improbable that this word is corrupted from the root of scrape, scrabble.]

1. To move or climb by seizing objects with the hand, and drawing the body forward; as, to scramble up a cliff.
2. To seize or catch eagerly at any thing that is desired; to catch with haste preventive of another; to catch at without ceremony. Man originally was obliged to scramble with wild beasts for nuts and acorns. Of other care they little reck'ning make, / Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast. – Milton.

SCRAM'BLER, n.

One who scrambles; one who climbs by the help of the hands.

SCRAM'BLING, n.

1. The act of climbing by the help of the hands.
2. The act of seizing or catching at with eager haste and without ceremony.

SCRAM'BLING, ppr.

1. Climbing by the help of the hands.
2. Catching at eagerly and without ceremony.

SCRAM'BLING-LY, adv.

By seizing or catching at eagerly.

SCRANCH, v.t. [D. schranssen; from cranch, craunch by prefixing s.]

To grind with the teeth, and with a crackling sound; to craunch. [This is in vulgar use in America.]

SCRAN'NEL, a. [Qu. broken, split; from the root of cranny.]

Slight; poor. Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw. [Not in use.] Milton.

SCRAP, n. [from scrape.]

1. A small piece; properly something scraped off, but used for any thing cut off; a fragment; a crum; as, scraps of meat. – Shak.
2. A part; a detached piece; as, scraps of history or poetry; scraps of antiquity; scraps of authors. Locke. Pope.
3. A small piece of paper. Pope. [If used for script, it is improper.]

SCRAP'-BOOK, n.

A blank book for the preservation of short pieces of poetry or other extracts from books and papers.

SCRAPE, n. [Dan. scrab; Sw. skrap.]

1. A rubbing.
2. The sound of the foot drawn over the floor.
3. A bow.
4. Difficulty; perplexity; distress; that which harasses. [A low word.]

SCRAPE, v.i.

1. To make a harsh noise.
2. To play awkwardly on a violin.
3. To make an awkward bow. To scrape acquaintance, to make one's self acquainted; to curry favor. [A low phrase introduced from the practice of scraping in bowing.]

SCRAPE, v.t. [Sax. screopan; D. schraapen, schrabben; G. schrapen; Sw. skrapa; Dan. skraber; Ir. scriobam, sgrabam; Russ. skrebu and ogrebayu; L. scribo, Gr. γραφω, to write; W. ysgravu, to scrape, from cravu, to scrape, from crav, claws. Owen. But probably from the general root of grave. In Ch. and Syr. כרב signifies to plow; in Ar. to strain, distress, gripe. See Grave.]

1. To rub the surface of any thing with a sharp or rough instrument, or with something hard; as, to scrape the floor; to scrape a vessel for cleaning it; to scrape the earth; to scrap the body. – Job ii.
2. To clean by scraping. – Lev. xiv.
3. To remove or take off by rubbing. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. – Ezek. xxvi.
4. To act upon the surface with a grating noise. The chiming clocks to dinner call; / A hundred footsteps scrape the marble hall. – Pope. To scrape off, to remove by scraping; to clear away by rubbing. To scrape together, to gather by close industry or small gains or savings; as, to scrape together good estate.