Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Scurvy
1.
Covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; scurfy; specifically, diseased with the scurvy.
“Whatsoever man . . . be scurvy or scabbed.” Lev. xxi. 18, 20.
2.
Vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible.
“A scurvy trick.” Ld. Lytton.
That
scurvy
custom of taking tobacco. Swift.
[He] spoke spoke such
scurvy
and provoking terms. Shakespeare
Scur′vy
,Noun.
[Probably from the same source as
scorbute
, but influenced by scurf
, scurfy
, scurvy
, adj.; cf. D. scheurbuik
scurvy, G. scharbock
, LL. scorbutus
. Cf. Scorbute
.] (Med.)
A disease characterized by livid spots, especially about the thighs and legs, due to extravasation of blood, and by spongy gums, and bleeding from almost all the mucous membranes. It is accompanied by paleness, languor, depression, and general debility. It is occasioned by confinement, innutritious food, and hard labor, but especially by lack of fresh vegetable food, or confinement for a long time to a limited range of food, which is incapable of repairing the waste of the system. It was formerly prevalent among sailors and soldiers.
Scurvy grass
[
Scurvy
+ grass
; or cf. Icel. skarfa
kāl scurvy grass
.] (Bot.)
A kind of cress (
Cochlearia officinalis
) growing along the seacoast of Northern Europe and in arctic regions. It is a remedy for the scurvy, and has proved a valuable food to arctic explorers. The name is given also to other allied species of plants.Webster 1828 Edition
Scurvy
SCUR'VY
,Noun.
SCUR'VY
, a. 1. Scurfy; covered or affected by scurf or scabs; scabby; diseased with scurvy.
2. Vile; mean; low; vulgar; worthless; contemptible; as a scurvy fellow.
He spoke scurvy and provoking terms. Shak.
That scurvy custom of taking tobacco. Swift.
Definition 2024
scurvy
scurvy
English
Noun
scurvy (usually uncountable, plural scurvies)
- (pathology) A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes.
- 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
- Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
-
Synonyms
- (vitamin C deficiency disease): Barlow's disease, Cheadle-Möller-Barlow syndrome, Cheadle's disease, Moeller's disease, Möller-Barlow disease, scorbutus
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
deficiency of vitamin C
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Adjective
scurvy (comparative scurvier, superlative scurviest)
- Covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; scurfy; specifically, diseased with the scurvy.
- Bible, Leviticus xxi. 18, 20
- whatsoever man […] be scurvy or scabbed
- Bible, Leviticus xxi. 18, 20
- Contemptible, despicable, low, disgustingly mean.
- a scurvy trick; a scurvy knave
- Jonathan Swift
- that scurvy custom of taking tobacco
- 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 2
- What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch!
Derived terms
See also
Translations
Contemptible, despicable, low, disgustingly mean
References
- scurvy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- “scurvy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
- James A. H. Murray [et al.], editor (1884–1928) A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697; and The Oxford English Dictionary; being a Corrected Re-issue with an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (the First Supplement), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933, OCLC 2748467.
- Who Named It? last accessed 28-Mar-2007