Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCAW, n., v. Also scaa, skya, sca(u)-, skaw, ska(a)-; †skal, †scal-. Sc. forms of Eng. †scall, scab, baldness. [skǫ:, skɑ:]

I. n. 1. A scaly disease ofthe skin causing baldness, scab (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ork., ‡ne.Sc., Ayr. 1969); “the itch, scrofula” (Jam.).Gsw. 1775 E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. (1874) 206:
The sma'pox, the nirls, the blabs, the scaw.Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 233:
Sca, ulcers, french-pox, yaws and scabs.Ayr. 1871 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 190:
Brimstone and butter was at that time the great medium for curin' the scaw.Edb. 1898 J. Baillie Walter Crighton 170:
Do you mind when he got the lick on the lug? Weel, he turned a' buddies and scaas.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 228:
They that gae wi' the ska 'ill get wi' the scabbart.Abd. 1951 Turriff Advertiser (19 Jan.):
Ringworm Skaw or Carrie on Cattle.

2. A faded mark, a blemish, spot (Dmf. 1825 Jam.). Also transf.s.Sc. 1845 E. Aitchison Forest Day Tour 124:
Where gun-balls gie deadly sca's.

3. Transf. A barnacle, a mass of barnacles esp. covering a rock, from its similarity at a distance to scab (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 148; Cai. 1904 E.D.D.; Ork. 1929 Marw., in pl.; Abd. 1930; Cai. 1969).Ork. 1806 P. Neill Tour 31:
Some very fine tang rocks . . . have become covered with a scaw or scurf (or, in other words, the little barnacle shell, lepas albanus).

II. v. 1. (1) To affect with scab, to become scaly or bald, most freq. in ppl.adj. scawt, scawd, scaut-, scaud-, scabby, scruffy, affected with itch, ringworm or similar disease (Mry. 1925; Abd. 1932 J. Leatham Fisher-folk 26, skyat; ne.Sc., Ayr. 1969); scrofulous (Sc. 1880 Jam.); “having many carbuncles on the face” (Kcd. 1825 Jam.); fig. applied also to poor land with patches bare of vegetation (Mry. 1925).Sc. 1736 Ramsay Proverbs (1776) 42:
If ye ca' me scabbed I'll ca' you scaw'd.Abd. 1739 Caled. Mag. (1788) 502:
But wae's my heart, for Petry Gibb, The Carlie's head 'twas scaw't.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 162:
Now, mony a scaw'd and bare-ars'd lown Rise early to their wark.Sc. 1847 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes 44:
Tarbane hills and sca't yauds.Sh. 1899 Shetland News (1 April):
Shü wis dat wye skaa'd 'at her head wis as bare as da back o' my hand.Cai. 1916 John o' Groat Jnl. (14 Jan.):
“Little maks a scaad man's heid till bleed” — said of one whose character is too easily stained.Abd. 1932 J. Leatham Fisherfolk 25:
'E's nae seener hail anaith the tail than he's skya't at the rumple!Arg.² 1931, obsol.:
Put that bunnet away: nuvver heed tho' ye fan' it: ye doan know whase skaad heed it cam affo'.

Combs. (i) scaud-heid, a scabby head (Sc. 1880 Jam.); a scrofulous disease that causes the hair to fall off (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Cld. 1880 Jam.). Used adj. in quot.; = (ii) (Ork. 1929 Marw.); (ii) sca(u)dman's heid, skadman's-, id.; transf., the sea-urchin, Echinus marinus (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Cai. 1904 E.D.D.; Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Ork. 1929 Marw.; Sh. 1950 New Shetlander No. 22. 39; I.Sc., Cai. 1969).(i) Sc. 1926 H. McDiarmid Penny Wheep 64:
Deep i' the herts o' a' men lurk scaut-heid Skrymmorie monsters few daur look upon.(ii) Sh. 1809 Wernerian Soc. Mem. II. 247:
Echinus esculentus, there called Scaad man's head.Sc. 1870 R. Chambers Pop. Rhymes 106:
When she cam to the wal . . . there lookit up to her three scaud men's heads.Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.:
Little braks da skaadman's head.Sh. 1952 J. Hunter Taen Wi Da Trow 17:
Cockles, spoots, an scaad-men's heads.

(2) to chafe, peel, abrade (the skin).Ork. 1929 Marw.:
I knocked me leg on a rock an' skaad hid.

2. tr. To spoil or destroy the appearance of, esp. in respect of colour, to make shabby or faded (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 148; Lnk. 1969); intr. to become faded (Gregor; sm.Sc. 1969). Gen. in ppl.adj. scawed, faded, having lost its freshness or pile (Kcb. 1912 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 291, scaut-lookin; Ags. 1921 T.S.D.C.; ne.Sc.,wm. Sc., Dmf. 1969); damaged in some way.Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 91:
A scaw'd bit o' a penny note.ne.Sc. 1782 Caled. Mercury (4 Sept.):
Lucky, in sca'at russet gown.Abd. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 38:
Gin onie chiel had coolie scaw't.Bnff. 1866 W. Knight Auld Yule 10:
The puir scawt duds upon my back.Ags. c.1870 W. Lindsay Auld Man to his auld Coat xviii.:
My coat is scaw'd an' bare.Lnk. 1877 W. Watson Poems 133:
The sou got the wee things, the wat'ry, and scaut.Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 37:
That coat o' yours is a' scawed wi' the sun.

3. Fig. in ppl.adj. scawt, (1) scruffy, mean, contemptible, scanty, niggling: short of due measure (Mry. 1930); (2) of rocks: covered with barnacles or other shell-fish; also of the shell-fish themselves frequenting such rocks. The form scautit in 1943 quot. has a double ending (-t + -it).(1) Sc. c.1715 Jacobite Minstrelsy (1829) 56:
Lord! sic a scaw'd and scabbit nest, How they'll set up their crack again!Bwk. 1856 G. Henderson Pop. Rhymes 22:
Drakemyre's a scaw'd place, Roten tripes and butter.(2) Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 120:
Like scawid cungles i' a geo.Abd. 1943 W. S. Forsyth Guff o' Waur 1:
The roun' scautit tap o' the Skurran.Cai. 1969:
Scaad. Said of rocks that the sea does not cover except with high tides. Scaad limpets are limpets found on such rocks. They are not good as fishing bait. The rocks are bare of seaweed and sea animalcules and hence the limpets are in poor condition.