scab

Etymology

From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.

noun

1. An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
2. (colloquial or obsolete) The scabies.
3. The mange, especially when it appears on sheep.
   Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling. 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 306
4. (uncountable) Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus).
5. Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies.
6. (phytopathology) Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
7. (founding) A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
8. A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.
   Out, scab! c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 5
   I would make thee the / loathsomest scab in Greece. 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act 5, scene 1
9. (derogatory, slang) A worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting.
   When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out. c. 1910s, London, Jack (attributed), The Scab

verb

1. (intransitive) To become covered by a scab or scabs.
2. (intransitive) To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.
   1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631, Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox.
   Trev walked over and leaned down, dropping a tender kiss on her forehead where the skin was raw and scabbing from the cut. 2009, Linda Wisdom, Wicked By Any Other Name, page 233
   The bark that wasn′t already scabbed off was peppered with beetle holes. 2009, Nancy Lord, Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life, page 121
3. (transitive) To remove part of a surface (from).
   The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this. 1891, Canadian Senate, Select Committee on Railways, Telegraphs and Harbours: Proceedings and Evidence, page 265
4. (intransitive) To act as a strikebreaker.
   Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize. 1931, “Which Side Are You On?”, performed by Florence Patton Reece
   Nobody desires to scab, to give most for least. The ambition of every individual is quite the opposite, to give least for most; and, as a result, living in a tooth-and-nail society, battle royal is waged by the ambitious individuals. April 5 1903, London, Jack, The Scab
5. (transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand, informal) To beg (for), to cadge or bum.
   I scabbed some money off a friend.
   2004, Niven Govinden, We are the New Romantics, Bloomsbury Publishing, UK, page 143, Finding a spot in a covered seating area that was more bus shelter than tourist-friendly, I unravelled a mother of a joint I′d scabbed off the garçon.
   2006, Linda Jaivin, The Infernal Optimist, 2010, HarperCollins Australia, unnumbered page, I′d already used up me mobile credit. I was using a normal phone card, what I got from Hamid, what got it from a church lady what helped the refugees. I didn′t like scabbing from the asylums, but they did get a lotta phone cards.
   I′ve told Fred we can see a movie this weekend, but that just seems like a money-wasting activity. And I can′t keep scabbing off my best friend. 2010, Fiona Wood, Six Impossible Things, page 113