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: 1735, 1836-1893
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SKRANKIE, adj., n. Also -y, scranky, skraunky. [′skrɑŋki]
I. adj. 1. Thin, lean, scraggy, meagre, shrivelled, lit. and fig. (Sc. 1808 Jam.; I.Sc., Lnl., Lnk. 1970). Also in n.Eng. dial. Hence skranky-looking, lean in appearance; skranky-shanked, with skinny legs.Sc. 1735 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) III. 130:
Ye . . . did lament Your purses being skranky.Abd. 1836 J. Grant Tales of Glens 105:
His features were as hard, and, gray, and scranky as the shattered corners of an old castle.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 51:
Thae scranky-shanked mizzle-shinned Highlanders.Ags. 1855 “Robin” Rimes and Poems 27:
Some scranky twigs o' ash.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 64:
A skrankie puggie face an' scaud ee.Sc. 1891 R. Ford Thistledown 88:
He is a skranky-looking individual.Lnk. 1893 J. Crawford Sc. Verses 72:
Like Pharoah's skranky kine.
2. Spidery, scrawling, of writing (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 163).
II. n. A coarse-featured person (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.).
[Of Scand. orig. Cf. Norw. dial. skrank, a thin, rawboned figure, Sw. dial. skranker, wrinkled, prob. cogn. with Scrocken and shrink.]
