scunge

plural scunges

1. slanguncountableMuck, scum, dirt, dirtiness; also used attributively.

   Every saucepan he owned was piled there, caked with unidentifiable scunge.

   1986, Gary Crew, The Inner Circle, unnumbered page

   3 more examples

   In two mad days Scully painted out the whole interior in lime wash, and the place suddenly seemed brighter, bigger, cleaner, and so strangely wholesome that it made him realize how foul it had been before, what scunge he'd really been dealing with day and night.

   1994, Tim Winton, The Riders, Picador 1996 UK Paperback edition, Ch.8, p.43

   We asked questions like, “Do you think we can take a blowtorch to burn that green scunge out of the refrigerator without wrecking the insulation?”

   2005, David Meurer, If You Want Breakfast in Bed, Sleep in the Kitchen, page 67

   Fitzroy was the across-the-river equivalent of St Kilda. Another ragged, working-class suburb that had become bohemian and then been discovered and slicked up. There was plenty of scunge left, however; in the back streets the smell of dope wafted from the houses.

   2006, Kate Holden, In My Skin: A Memoir of Addiction, page 130

   Synonyms: grime, gunge, muck, scum

2. countableslangA scrounger; one who habitually borrows.

   Synonyms: bludger, moocher, smell-feast, bloodsucker, bludger, bummer, freeloader, free rider

3. countableslangA dirty or untidy person; one who takes no pride in their appearance.

   “You four scunges need to clean yourselves up,″ Jarrad announced — ironic given his own personal hygiene, Jake thought, which was less than impeccable.

   2008, Pam Withers, Mountainboard Maniacs, page 120

   Synonyms: dag, grub, slob, clatty, dag, dirtbag, dirtball, feague

4. countablederogatoryslangA scoundrel; a worthless or despicable person.

   The press officer was glad to get me onto the helicopter back to the airbase, as he obviously thought I must be a bit of a scunge asking political questions, when it was my job to report on how well the war was going and how the North was being held.

   1966, Comment: A New Zealand Quarterly Review, volume 8, page 14

   Synonyms: asshole, piece of work, scumbag, assbag, assbreath, assbucket, asschunk, asscunt

present singular third person scunges · participle present scunging · participle present scungeing · participle past scunged · past scunged

1. To mark with scunge; to begrime or besmirch.

   “I was scunged. ... I hated myself, hated everything, felt useless and worthless, had no friends, no love, no career, no education, no parents and no tomorrows. It all added up to nothing.”

   2002, Dennis McDougal, Mary Murphy, Blood Cold: Fame, Sex, and Murder in Hollywood, page 79

   Synonyms: assoil, befoul, sully, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood)

2. To slink about; to sneak, to insinuate.

   1846, author not visible, The Disruption: A Scottish Tale of Recent Times, R. M. Walker (printer), Edinburgh, page 341, Neither will ye scunge after the gentry like M′Quirkie, and keep your creed in your hand ready to swap it for ony ither that may happen to be mair profitable.

   2 more examples

   Seizing him in his arms he ran into a shop, and seizing a coil of rope, measured off five or six yards, and fastening this round the dog′s neck, set him down, and giving him a few hearty kicks — ‘Hame wi′ you, ye scunging tyke, hame!’ and thus discovered the laird′s dwelling-place.

   1948, Old Edinburgh Club, The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, volume 26, page 38

   Each time he moved, the old dog that lay along his side would groan, complaining at its disturbance until Charlie's fingers scunged into the German shepherd′s long hair reassuring him with his familiar fussing.

   2011, C. J. Bull, When The Spirit Calls, page 79

   Synonyms: creep, skulk, slive, creep, hake, sneak, shug, skulk

3. To scrounge; to borrow.

   2011, Nichola Garvey, Beating the Odds, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page, ‘ […] My business does all the work, and you want to come and scunge a market off me and don′t even have a bet? […] ’

   1 more example

   The Australian Labor Party in Victoria had a very successful result. Members of the National Party are scunging around trying to win Ballarat!

   1980, Victorian Parliament, Parliamentary debates (Hansard), volume 353, page 1449

   Synonyms: blag, cadge, mooch, beg, blag, bum, cadge, leech