scug

plural scugs · alternative skug · alternative Scotland scoug · alternative Scotland skoog

1. Northern EnglandScotlandShade, shadow.
2. Northern EnglandScotlandA shelter, a sheltered place (especially on the side of a hill).

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

   1897, Outlaws, Hamilton, page 156

3. dialectalA squirrel.

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

   1883, Alfred Easther, A Glossary of the Dialect of Almondbury and Huddersfield, page 78

4. datedslangA lower-school or inferior boy.

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

   1865, Bracebridge Hemyng, Butler Burke at Eton, page 75

   2 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

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

present singular third person scugs · participle present scugging · participle past scugged · past scugged · alternative skug · alternative Scotland scoug · alternative Scotland skoog

1. Northern EnglandScotlandtransitiveTo shelter; to protect.
2. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveTo hide; to take shelter.