scurvy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈskɜːvi/
ipa: /ˈskɜɹvi/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)vi
Forms: form: scurvies
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English scurvi, scurvy, variants of scurfi (“having scurf, scabby”), from scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Scurf is derived from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). By surface analysis, scurf (“skin disease; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease; crust-like formations on the skin”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).
The noun is derived from the adjective. It was used to translate the similar-sounding Dutch scheurbuik, French scorbut, Middle Low German schorbūk (“scurvy (disease)”), etc.
Senses: examples: text: Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.
ref: 1589, Robert Baker, “The Second Voyage to Guinie, and the Riuer of Selto, Set Out in the Moneth of Nouember 1563, […]”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, page 139:
text: [H]ee will go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spaniards throats but he will haue it, byrlady when he comes there, poore ſoule hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruies; […]
ref: 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC, signature B2, verso:
text: [W]hich excellent plant [scurvy-grass], Cæſars ſoldiers […] found to preuaile […] againſt that plague and hurtfull diſeaſe of the teeth, gums, and ſinevves, called the Scuruie, being a depriuation of all good bloode and moiſture, in the vvhole bodie, called Scorbutum; in Engliſh the Scuruie, and Skyrbie: […]
ref: 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Scuruie Grasse, or Spoonewoort”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 325, column 2:
text: [N]ovv vve have looſed the plough in the fields, they'l find vvork enough about home to keep us from the ſcurvey.
ref: c. 1607–1626 (date written), Thomas Heywood; William Rowly [i.e., William Rowley], Fortune by Land and Sea. A Tragi-comedy. […], London: […] John Sweeting […], and Robert Pollard […], published 1655, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 21:
text: The Scurvies is the Mother and Nurſery of all Diſeaſes: and upon taking old, or any diſorder of Body, they branch out one Diſtemper or other, and yet the grand cauſe, vvhich is the Scurvies, remains all in one Body.
ref: 1674 October 25 (Gregorian calendar), George Jones, This is to Give You Notice of My Friendly Pill: The Like whereof was Never Found Out before, for Doing Good: […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 8–9:
text: But I muſt allovv that this VVater is moſt indovv'd vvith theſe Acid Streams by this means, and may repute it as moſt Medicinal in Scurvies, on the Score of the Quantity of Acid, Chalybeat, and Allummy, extraordinary in this.
ref: 1711, Benjamin Allen, “Scarborough-water in Yorkshire”, in The Natural History of the Mineral-waters of Great-Britain. […], London: […] [F]or the author, and sold by William Innys, […], →OCLC, page 34:
text: Native Animal Oils, as Fat, Cream, Butter, Marrovv, eſpecially the laſt, vvhich is excellent in ſome Scurvies.
ref: 1732, John Arbuthnot, “Practical Rules of Diet in the Various Constitutions and Diseases of Human Bodies. Chapter I. Of the Different Qualities and Effects of Alimentary Substances. 10. Abaters of Acrimony or Sharpness.”, in An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page 264:
text: And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach.
ref: 1763 June 20 (first performance), Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garret. A Comedy, […], London: […] P[aul] Vaillant, […], published 1764, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
text: The chief use, however, of the fresh provisions was for the men with the scurvy. One of them was able to eat, and he soon brought himself to by gnawing upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time, was hardly able to open his mouth; and the cook took the potatoes raw, pounded them in a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink.
ref: 1841, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXXV, in Two Years before the Mast. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 114:
text: Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
ref: 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered: Was It Responsible Governance or was It Subterfuge?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jan 2016, page 87:
topics: medicine
pathology
sciences
synonyms: Barlow's disease
Cheadle-Möller-Barlow syndrome
Cheadle's disease
Moeller's disease
Möller-Barlow disease
scorbutus
hyponyms: land-scurvy
sea-scurvy
glosses: A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.
examples: text: Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.
ref: 2002, Roy Vincent Buckle, “Sea Shanty: The Ballad of Kate d’Vere”, in Africans and Aliens, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, part 2 (Cherchez la Femme), page 76:
text: Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.
ref: 2004 October, “Don’t Go There! Our Desert-island List of Desert Islands where You’d Never Want to be Stranded”, in Sia Michel, editor, Spin, volume 20, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Vibe/Spin Ventures, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 52, column 2:
text: Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]
ref: 2022 September 13, Carrie Chang, The Dieters: Confessions of a Valley Girl in Plaid, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: arsehole
word: ass
word: assface
word: asshat
word: asshole
word: asswipe
word: bastard
word: bitch
word: blackguard
word: blaggard
word: buttlicker
word: buttmunch
word: carrion
word: cockhead
word: cocklicker
word: cocksucker
word: cowson
word: crud
word: cunt
word: dick
word: dickhead
word: dickwad
word: dickweed
word: dipshit
word: douche
word: douchebag
word: douchecanoe
word: douchewagon
word: earthworm
word: fribble
word: fucker
word: fuckface
word: fuckhead
word: fuckstain
word: fucktard
word: git
word: heel
word: hilding
word: insect
word: jackass
word: jerk
word: loser
word: louse
word: mahfugga
word: mongrel
word: motherfucker
word: paskudnyak
word: pigwidgeon
word: pigfucker
word: prick
word: queef
word: raasclaat
word: ratfink
word: schmuck
word: scrub
word: scut
word: sewer rat
word: sheep-biter
word: shit
word: shitbird
word: shitehawk
word: shitface
word: shithead
word: skate
word: slag
word: son of a bitch
word: son of a gun
word: son of a whore
word: stinker
word: swine
word: turdball
word: twattock
word: wankpuffin
word: whoreson
word: worm
word: yutz
glosses: A contemptible or despicable person.
topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
veterinary
zoology
glosses: A cattle disease, perhaps affecting the skin.
Derived terms: word: button scurvy
word: land-scurvy
word: scurvetical
word: scurvical
word: scurvied
english: scurvygrass, scurvy grass
translation: scurvygrass, scurvy grass
word: scurvy-grass
word: sea-scurvy
Related terms: ascorbic
scorbic
scorbutic
morphew