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Webster 1913 Edition
Skellum
Skel′lum
,Noun.
[Dan.
schelm
, fr. G. schelm
.] A scoundrel.
[Obs. or Scot.]
Pepys. Burns.
Webster 1828 Edition
Skellum
SKEL'LUM
,Noun.
Definition 2024
skellum
skellum
English
Noun
skellum (plural skellums)
- (obsolete, Britain) A scoundrel.
- Samuel Pepys' Diary - Friday 3 April 1663
- Dr. Creeton, [Robert Creighton] the Scotchman, […] ripped up Hugh Peters (calling him the execrable skellum), his preaching and stirring up the maids of the city to bring in their bodkins and thimbles.
- Robert Burns, Tam O' Shanter (lines 17-22)
- O Tam! had'st thou but been sae wise,
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum;
That frae November till October,
Ae market-day thou was na sober.
- O Tam! had'st thou but been sae wise,
- Samuel Pepys' Diary - Friday 3 April 1663