scug

English

Alternative forms

• skug
• scoug, skoog (Scotland)

Etymology

Scottish and Northern English from Old Norse skuggi, from Proto-Germanic *skuwwô (“shadow, reflection”). Cognate with Icelandic skuggi, Swedish skugga, Danish skygge, Old English sċūa, sċūwa (“a shade”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: skŭg, IPA^(key): /skʌɡ/, (formerly also) /skʊɡ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Noun

scug (plural scugs)

1. (Northern England, Scotland) Shade, shadow.
2. (Northern England, Scotland) A shelter, a sheltered place (especially on the side of a hill).
   • 1897, Outlaws, Hamilton, page 156:

     We was jickering along […] under the scug o' the hill.

3. (dialectal) A squirrel.
   • 1883, Alfred Easther, A Glossary of the Dialect of Almondbury and Huddersfield, page 78:

     "Let's go scug-hunting" is a common phrase. […] a stick with a leaden head, used for knocking down birds and scugs (squirrels).

4. (dated, slang) A lower-school or inferior boy.
   • 1865, Bracebridge Hemyng, Butler Burke at Eton, page 75:

     […] before the lower school scugs got there, and pitched it in at Acropolis.

   • 1881, C. E. Pascoe, Everyday Life in our Public Schools, page 312:

     Scug, Et[on]. Har[row]. Negatively, a boy who is not distinguished in person, in games, or social qualities. Positively, a boy of untidy, dirty, or ill-mannered habits; one whose sense of propriety is not fully developed.

   • 1969, Ralph G. Martin, Jennie: the Life of Lady Randolph Churchill: The romantic years, 1854-1895, Prentice-Hall, page 54:

     A scug was an untidy, ill-mannered, and morally undeveloped boy, a shirker at games, bumptious and arrogant. If not naturally vicious, a scug was considered degenerate.

Verb

scug (third-person singular simple present scugs, present participle scugging, simple past and past participle scugged)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, transitive) To shelter; to protect.
2. (Northern England, Scotland, intransitive) To hide; to take shelter.

Anagrams

• USCG