Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1793-1902
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SCRUNT, v.2, n.2 Also skrunt.
I. v. 1. To scrape, scrub, scratch, grind (Ags. 1969). Also fig. Deriv. scrunter, a worker in a foundry who cleans and smoothes iron castings (Ags. 1969).Rnf. 1805 G. McIndoe Poems. 146:
His auld gray head he scrunted.Gsw. 1860 J. Young Poorhouse Lays 31:
Jock leuk't his teeth, Moll said o' them There was but little danger, Tho' whiles he'd scrunted them at hame, Off trivice, heck, an' manger.Slg. 1885 W. Towers Poems 65:
His law was but a grinding stane, That skrunted puir folk to the bane.
2. To plane (a board) roughly so as to remove a thick shaving, as in planing the joints in flooring (Abd., Ags., Lth., Lnk. 1969); to rough down pointing with a hand-pick (Id.).
3. To make a creaking noise (Cld. 1808 Jam.); to produce a harsh sound by scraping, as "by rubbing or scratching on a board with a blunted point" (Cld. 1825 Jam.); to scrape (a tune) on a fiddle.Rnf. a.1794 A. Wilson Poems (1876) II. 324:
Before the screen, wi' a bit fiddle sat . . . An' scruntit "Owre the hills an' far awa."Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 245:
[He] fond to show his dext'rous feats, Scrunts owre the rack like thunder.Lnk. a.1852 Poets Scot. (Wilson) 384:
An' Ned now scrunts an interlude, Wi' short springs on his fiddle.
II. n. 1. The act of planing roughly; a thick or rough shaving of wood (Abd., Lnk. 1969). Cf. I. 2. Also fig. a critical survey.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 109:
We've gien the maist o' things a bit gie scrunt.
2. A harsh grating sound made by scraping on wood or the like (Cld. 1825 Jam.). Phr. to play scrunt, to scrape (on a fiddle).Gsw. 1823 J. Livingston Comic Songs 34:
Whiles he played scrunt wi' the hair.Clc. 1886 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) IX. 90:
Twa scrunts o'er the strings make my troubles a' flee.Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters xxvii.:
The scrunt of Janet's chair on the floor.Fif. 1902 D. S. Meldrum Conquest of Charlotte iii. iii.:
A scrunt in the shafts as Jess [a horse] shook her head clear of the blow.
