scut

Etymology 1

From Middle English scut (“hare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Middle English scut, scute (“short”), possibly from Old French escorter, escurter, or Latin excurtāre, scurtāre, from curtō (“to cut short, shorten”), from curtus (“short; shortened”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”)) + -ō. A derivation from Old Norse skut, skutr (“stern of a boat”), or Icelandic skott (“animal's tail”) is thought to be unlikely. As to sense 3 (“the female pudenda, the vulva”), see the letter of 5 June 1875 from Joseph Crosby to Joseph Parker Norris published in One Touch of Shakespeare (1986).

noun

1. (obsolete) A hare; (hunting, also figurative) a hare as the game in a hunt.
2. A short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer.
   Shakespeare's use of the word scut may be a sly reference to Mistress Ford's pudenda: see sense 3.
3. (by extension) The buttocks or rump; also, the female pudenda, the vulva.
   I rumpled her Feathers, and tickled her Scut, / And play'd the round Rubbers at two handed Put. 1750, “Ge ho, Dobbin or the Waggoner”, in The Tulip, page 2
   So … so she show you her pretty li'l scut, he? Jesse, you are a lad; when will you learn? a. 1968, Keith Roberts, “The Lady Margaret”, in Gardner Dozois, editor, Modern Classics of Science Fiction, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, St. Martin’s Press, published 1993, page 233
   One of the sisters backed up to the fire and hiked up the tail of her dress and bent over and thrust out her scut to it and stared at Inman with a look of glazed pleasure in her blue eyes. 1997, Charles Frazier, “To Live Like a Gamecock”, in Cold Mountain: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, page 216

Etymology 2

Uncertain, possibly a variant of scout (“(obsolete except Scotland) contemptible person”), possibly related to scout (“to reject with contempt; to scoff”), from a North Germanic language; compare Old Norse skúta, skúte (“a taunt”), probably from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to shoot; to throw”). Compare Old Norse skútyrði, skotyrði (“abusive language”).

noun

1. (chiefly Ireland, colloquial) A contemptible person.
   She didn't need a new dress! Me money! Me hard earned three hundred that I scraped and scrimped for. Me scut of a daughter puttin' it on her back in finery. 1947, Paul Vincent Carroll, The Wise Have Not Spoken: A Drama in Three Acts (French’s Acting Edition; no. 308), London: French, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, 1954, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 49
   I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail. 1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore
   CHRIS. Danny Bradley is a scut, Rose. / ROSE. I never said it was Danny Bradley! / CHRIS. He's a married man with three young children. 1993, Brian Friel, Dancing at Lughnasa, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, act I, page 14
   Ruth had snapped open her purse and pulled out a small gun. I grabbed her arm and yanked her into the car; she squawked and her shot went wide. … "You scut," she said as we hit the entrance ramp of the interstate. "You're a scut-pumping Conservative. You made me miss." 1997, John Kessel, “The Pure Product”, in The Pure Product: Stories (Tom Doherty Associates Book), New York, N.Y.: Tor Books; republished in Harry Turtledove, with Martin H[arry] Greenberg, editors, The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey Books, Ballantine Books, 2005, page 322
   Fat-headed scut. That's what he is, scut. Thinks he runs the whole river. 2005, Dean Whitlock, chapter 12, in Sky Carver, New York, N.Y.: Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, page 108

Etymology 3

Uncertain; perhaps related to scut (“contemptible person”): see etymology 2.

noun

1. (attributively) Distasteful work; drudgery
   Let's devote mornings to the scut, do real work in the afternoon. 1998, Jonathan Kellerman, chapter 17, in Billy Straight: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, page 112; republished London: Headline Publishing Group, 2009
   And the scut of weeding or washing clothes or waiting in the dentist's waiting room or the soccer field parking lot is actually far less brutalizing than the scut of grading freshman essays … 1999, Catherine Miles Wallace, Dance Lessons: Moving to the Rhythm of a Crazy God, Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Publishing, page 163
   "What if you were called a scut puppy?" / "When I first started I was one. A scut puppy is usually a medical student or a nurse who does menial tasks. That's how a person learns in the beginning. We are under others who will teach us and work our tails off." 2003, Virginia Gayl Salazar, Gone: A Sci Fi about Cloning, New York, N.Y., Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, page 144
   So they give the people assigned to the Probation Squad every scut case that other squads don't want to handle. 2004, Clark Howard, “The Leper Colony”, in Ed Gorman, Martin H[arry] Greenberg, editors, The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Fifth Annual Collection (Tom Doherty Associates Book), New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, page 445
2. (medicine, slang) Some menial procedure left for a doctor or medical student to complete, sometimes for training purposes.
   There's no question that it's sexist. [Female residents] are berated more on rounds, given more scut to do. 1999, Patricia L. Dawson, Forged by the Knife: The Experience of Surgical Residency from the Perspective of a Woman of Color, Seattle, Wash.: Open Hand Pub., page 100

Etymology 4

Origin unknown; perhaps from scut(tle), or related to Swedish scutla (“to leap”).

verb

1. (intransitive, originally Cumbria, East Anglia, Yorkshire) To scamper off.