Loading earlier words…
Scapulary Scapular

A loose sleeveless vestment falling in front and behind, worn by certain religious orders and devout persons. The name given to two pieces of cloth worn under the ordinary garb and over the shoulders as an act of devotion.

Scapulet

A secondary mouth fold developed at the base of each of the armlike lobes of the manubrium of many rhizostome medusae. See Illustration in Appendix.

Scar

A marine food fish, the scarus, or parrot fish.

Scarabee Scarab

Any one of numerous species of lamellicorn beetles of the genus Scarabaeus, or family Scarabaeidae, especially the sacred, or Egyptian, species (Scarabaeus sacer, and Scarabaeus Egyptiorum).

Scaramouch

A personage in the old Italian comedy (derived from Spain) characterized by great boastfulness and poltroonery; hence, a person of like characteristics; a buffoon.

Scarce

Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon.

Scarcement

An offset where a wall or bank of earth, etc., retreats, leaving a shelf or footing.

Scarcity Scarceness

The quality or condition of being scarce; smallness of quantity in proportion to the wants or demands; deficiency; lack of plenty; short supply; penury; as, a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties.

Scard

A shard or fragment.

Scare

Fright; esp., sudden fright produced by a trifling cause, or originating in mistake.

Scarecrow

Anything set up to frighten crows or other birds from cornfields; hence, anything terifying without danger.

Scarf

In a piece which is to be united to another by a scarf joint, the part of the end or edge that is tapered off, rabbeted, or notched so as to be thinner than the rest of the piece. A scarf joint.

Scarificator

An instrument, principally used in cupping, containing several lancets moved simultaneously by a spring, for making slight incisions.

Scarify

To scratch or cut the skin of; esp. (Med.), to make small incisions in, by means of a lancet or scarificator, so as to draw blood from the smaller vessels without opening a large vein.

Scarlet

To dye or tinge with scarlet.

Scaroid

Of or pertaining to the Scaridae, a family of marine fishes including the parrot fishes.

Scarp

To cut down perpendicularly, or nearly so; as, to scarp the face of a ditch or a rock.

Scarry

Like a scar, or rocky eminence; containing scars.

Scarus

A Mediterranean food fish (Sparisoma scarus) of excellent quality and highly valued by the Romans; -- called also parrot fish.

Scary

Subject to sudden alarm.

Scat

A shower of rain.

Scatch

A kind of bit for the bridle of a horse; -- called also scatchmouth.

Scate

See Skate, for the foot.

Scath

Harm; damage; injury; hurt; waste; misfortune.

Scath Scathe

To do harm to; to injure; to damage; to waste; to destroy.

Scathful

Harmful; doing damage; pernicious.

Scatter

To be dispersed or dissipated; to disperse or separate; as, clouds scatter after a storm.

Scatter-brain

A giddy or thoughtless person; one incapable of concentration or attention.

Scattered

Dispersed; dissipated; sprinkled, or loosely spread.

Scattering

Act of strewing about; something scattered.

Scatterling

One who has no fixed habitation or residence; a vagabond.

Scaturient

Gushing forth; full to overflowing; effusive.

Scaup

A bed or stratum of shellfish; scalp.

Scauper

A tool with a semicircular edge, -- used by engravers to clear away the spaces between the lines of an engraving.

Scaur

A precipitous bank or rock; a scar.

Scavage

A toll or duty formerly exacted of merchant strangers by mayors, sheriffs, etc., for goods shown or offered for sale within their precincts.

Scavenge

To remove the burned gases from the cylinder after a working stroke; as, this engine does not scavenge well.

Scavenger

A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health.

Scavenger hunt

a game in which individuals or teams are given a list of items and must go out, gather them together without purchasing them, and bring them back; the first person or team to return with the complete list is the winner. The items are sometimes common but often of a humorous sort.

Scavenging

Act or process of expelling the exhaust gases from the cylinder by some special means, as, in many four-cycle engines, by utilizing the momentum of the exhaust gases in a long exhaust pipe.

Scena

A scene in an opera. An accompanied dramatic recitative, interspersed with passages of melody, or followed by a full aria.

Scenario

A preliminary sketch of the plot, or main incidents, of an opera.

Scene

To exhibit as a scene; to make a scene of; to display.

Sceneman

The man who manages the movable scenes in a theater.

Scenery

Assemblage of scenes; the paintings and hangings representing the scenes of a play; the disposition and arrangement of the scenes in which the action of a play, poem, etc., is laid; representation of place of action or occurence.

Sceneshifter

One who moves the scenes in a theater; a sceneman.

Scenical Scenic

Of or pertaining to scenery; of the nature of scenery; theatrical.

Scenograph

A perspective representation or general view of an object.

Scenography

The art or act of representing a body on a perspective plane; also, a representation or description of a body, in all its dimensions, as it appears to the eye.

Scent

That which, issuing from a body, affects the olfactory organs of animals; odor; smell; as, the scent of an orange, or of a rose; the scent of musk.

Scepsis

Skepticism; skeptical philosophy.

Scepterellate

Having a straight shaft with whorls of spines; -- said of certain sponge spicules. See Illust. under Spicule.

Sceptral

Of or pertaining to a scepter; like a scepter.

Sceptre Scepter

To endow with the scepter, or emblem of authority; to invest with royal authority.

Scern

To discern; to perceive.

Schappe

A silk yarn or fabric made out of carded spun silk.

Schatchen

A person whose business is marriage brokage; a marriage broker, esp. among certain Jews.

Schedule

To form into, or place in, a schedule.

Scheelite

Calcium tungstate, a mineral of a white or pale yellowish color and of the tetragonal system of crystallization.

Schema

An outline or image universally applicable to a general conception, under which it is likely to be presented to the mind; as, five dots in a line are a schema of the number five; a preceding and succeeding event are a schema of cause and effect.

Schematic

Of or pertaining to a scheme or a schema.

Schematism

Combination of the aspects of heavenly bodies.

Schematist

One given to forming schemes; a projector; a schemer.

Scheme

To form a scheme or schemes.

Schemer

One who forms schemes; a projector; esp., a plotter; an intriguer.

Scheming

Given to forming schemes; artful; intriguing.

Schene

An Egyptian or Persian measure of length, varying from thirty-two to sixty stadia.

Scherzo

A playful, humorous movement, commonly in 3-4 measure, which often takes the place of the old minuet and trio in a sonata or a symphony.

Schesis

General state or disposition of the body or mind, or of one thing with regard to other things; habitude.

Schiedam

Holland gin made at Schiedam in the Netherlands.

Schiller

The peculiar bronzelike luster observed in certain minerals, as hypersthene, schiller spar, etc. It is due to the presence of minute inclusions in parallel position, and is sometimes of secondary origin.

Loading more words…