scab

plural scabs

1. countableuncountableAn incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
2. colloquialcountableobsoleteuncountableThe scabies.
3. countableuncountableThe mange, especially when it appears on sheep.

   Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling.

   1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 306

4. uncountableAny of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus).
5. countableuncountableCommon scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies.
6. countableuncountablebiologyAny one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
7. countableuncountablefoundingA slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
8. countableuncountableA mean, dirty, paltry fellow.

   Out, scab!

   c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 5

   1 more example

   I would make thee the / loathsomest scab in Greece.

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   Synonyms: antimodel, bad guy, baddie, bastard, beggar, blackguard, bounder, cad

9. countablederogatoryslanguncountableA worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting.

   When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.

   c. 1910s, Jack London (attributed), The Scab

   Synonyms: blackleg, blacklegger, knobstick, scalie

present singular third person scabs · participle present scabbing · participle past scabbed · past scabbed

1. intransitiveTo become covered by a scab or scabs.
2. intransitiveTo form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.

   1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631, Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox.

   2 more examples

   Trev walked over and leaned down, dropping a tender kiss on her forehead where the skin was raw and scabbing from the cut.

   2009, Linda Wisdom, Wicked By Any Other Name, page 233

   The bark that wasn′t already scabbed off was peppered with beetle holes.

   2009, Nancy Lord, Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life, page 121

3. transitiveTo remove part of a surface (from).

   The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this.

   1891, Canadian Senate, Select Committee on Railways, Telegraphs and Harbours: Proceedings and Evidence, page 265

4. intransitiveTo act as a strikebreaker.

   Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize.

   1931, “Which Side Are You On?”, performed by Florence Patton Reece

   1 more example

   Nobody desires to scab, to give most for least. The ambition of every individual is quite the opposite, to give least for most; and, as a result, living in a tooth-and-nail society, battle royal is waged by the ambitious individuals.

   1903 April 5, London, Jack, The Scab

5. AustraliaNew ZealandUKinformaltransitiveTo beg (for), to cadge or bum.

   I scabbed some money off a friend.

   3 more examples

   2004, Niven Govinden, We are the New Romantics, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, page 143, Finding a spot in a covered seating area that was more bus shelter than tourist-friendly, I unravelled a mother of a joint I′d scabbed off the garçon.

   2006, Linda Jaivin, The Infernal Optimist, 2010, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page, I′d already used up me mobile credit. I was using a normal phone card, what I got from Hamid, what got it from a church lady what helped the refugees. I didn′t like scabbing from the asylums, but they did get a lotta phone cards.

   I′ve told Fred we can see a movie this weekend, but that just seems like a money-wasting activity. And I can′t keep scabbing off my best friend.

   2010, Fiona Wood, Six Impossible Things, page 113