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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCRUNT, n.¹, adj., v.¹ Also skrunt. [skrʌnt]

I. n. 1. Anything shrunken, stunted or worn down by usage, age, etc., a stump of a tree, pen, broom, or the like (Fif., Lnk. 1825 Jam.; ne., m.Sc. 1969), a shrivelled fruit (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.), a piece of food shrivelled and burnt in cooking. Comb. Claw-scrunt.Rnf. 1835 D. Webster Rhymes 141:
Whene'er he took haud o' the scrunt o' a pen.Sc. 1864 J. C. Shairp Kilmahoe 170:
Some auld skrunts o' birk.Edb. 1895 J. Tweeddale Moff 87:
A curler comin' oot for his first spell wi' an auld scrunt o' a cowe.Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss-hags xxxix.:
The scraggy scrunts of the rowan-trees and birks.Mry. 1925:
Ye've brunt the herrin a' tae scrunts.Sc. 1926 H. M'Diarmid Drunk Man 42:
It's hard to struggle as I maun For scrunts o' blooms like mine.Abd. 1958 Abd. Press and Jnl. (10 Oct.):
A drier, more tasteless little scrunt of a berry could not be found.

2. A person shrunken or withered with age, illness or deformity, a thin emaciated or scraggy person (Fif., Lnk. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; ne., m.Sc. 1969); a poorly-developed or unthriving animal or plant (Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 37; Abd., Wgt. 1969); a prostitute (Sc. 1903 Farmer and Henley Slang VI. 234).Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 175:
Now withert scrunts, and rosy maids, May lie their lane, nor think o' lads.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 60:
Sheu was a nabal, near-bega'n skrunt.Abd. 1910 C. Murray Hamewith 33:
Twa or three scrunts o' kye.Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 29:
Quality nowte need nae mair feedin nor scrunts. Breed the best.Rnf. 1930 Weekly Scotsman (27 Sept.) 9:
Hauf-a-dozen starved miserable skrunts.Ags. 1930 A. Kennedy Orra Boughs i.:
The minister was a dry scrunt of a man.Abd. 1981 Christina Forbes Middleton The Dance in the Village 6:
There's yon auld scrunt ca'd Paterson
He canna stan' me aroon'
Since I turned his brand new windae box
Intae a pooder room.

Hence scrunty, skrunty, stunted, undersized, shrivelled, stumpy, wizened (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.; Lnk. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai; sm. and s.Sc., Uls. 1969); meagre, raw-boned (Fif., Lth. 1825 Jam.); scruntiness, stuntedness, poor growth (Lnk. 1825 Jam.).Rxb. 1811 A. Scott Poems 59:
[A bird] wha' on his native scrunty thorn, 'Mang birds o' song bude hail the morn.Peb. 1832 R. Brown Comic Poems 35:
For birks a wee bit skrunty row'n.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin ii.:
The whirlwinds skreeghin' amang the skrunty bits o' timmer.Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 55:
He'd been sae scrimpit o' his corn His scrunty banes stood brent in sight.Lnk. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 56:
Sae I'll fling doon my scrunty pen.Abd. 1952 Abd. Press and Jnl. (12 May):
Every place where a blaeberry bush used to be; some on banks, dry, scrunty things.ne.Sc. 1991 Alexander Hutchison in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 101:
Scrunty hens roon but-an-bens,
the quines that winna show. Sc. 1999 Observer 21 Nov 7:
On Wednesday night, they chanted Doe-A-Deer for 20 minutes. Wonderful. Wouldn't you prefer to hear a cover of one of Julie Andrews's finest numbers rather than a bunch of scrunty-looking individuals droning, 'No surrender to the IRA'?

3. A mean, miserly person (Fif., Lnk. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 264; Bnff., Abd., em. Sc. (a), wm., sm. and s.Sc. 1969). Hence scrunty, mean, niggardly (Ib.).Kcb.⁴ 1900:
The aul' scrunt, scrapin' a' things to himsel!Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
A scrunty pennyworth o' milk.Gall. 1947 A. McCormick Galloway 219:
The scrunty aul' buddy has nae smeff . . . she canna get the money till the hen has laid an egg to pey for't.wm.Sc. 1948 Scots Mag. (Dec.) 185:
Mourning his bawbees and his daughter, like the auld scrunt in the play.

II. adj. Mean, niggardly.Rnf., Ayr. 1928:
Ye're scrunt wi' the butter.

III. v. To shrivel, stunt, shrink. Gen. in ppl.adj. scruntit, -ed, shrivelled, undersized, shrunken, stunted in growth (Lnk. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1942 Zai; Uls. 1953 Traynor; Bnff., Abd., em.Sc. (a), wm., sm.Sc. 1969).Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 183:
Some trees time-worn, an' scruntit bare.Sc. 1819 J. Rennie St. Patrick II. xvi.:
Ye scruntet like wurlyon o' the pit.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 26:
That auld scrunted hawthorn there.Dmf. 1905 J. L. Waugh Thornhill 136:
The flo'ers' in scruntet heaps, lie deid.Uls. 1929 S. F. Bullock Thrasna River 300:
Little scrunted, whitewashed London brats.Abd. 1931 D. Campbell Uncle Andie 77:
Ye skruntit auld weasel!Sc. 1935 W. D. Cocker Further Poems 21:
The win' through an auld skruntit aipple-tree blaws.s.Sc. 1983 Southern Reporter 20 Jan :
Not long ago, I was looking at the site of a proposed fence and was instructed that it had to go 'ablow yon scruntit birk.' The 'scruntit birk' in question was one of the gnarled and twisted trees which has survived the winters of many a year by a sheer effort of will.