Meanings
proper noun
- An industrial town in North Lincolnshire district, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom (OS grid ref SE8910).
In a famously embarrassing incident in 1996, America Online's errant dirty-word filter prevented residents of the British town Scunthorpe from signing up as new customers.
2004 April 23, Declan McCullagh, “Google's chastity belt too tight”, in CNET, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2011
Origin
- Old NorseSkumasþorp
- Old EnglishEscumetorpe
- EnglishScunthorpe
From Old English Escumetorpe, from Old Norse Skumasþorp, from Skuma + -s + þorp, literally “Skuma's homestead”.
More words from Old English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Scunthorpe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scunthorpe
MLA
“Scunthorpe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scunthorpe. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Scunthorpe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scunthorpe.
Source: Scunthorpe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.