SCURVY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Scurvy

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noun

Scurvy n. (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 (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.

adjective

Scurvy adj. (compar. scurvier; superl. scurviest)

Covered or affected with scurf or scabs; scabby; scurfy; specifically, diseased with the scurvy. "Whatsoever man... be scurvy or scabbed."

Vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible. "A scurvy trick." "That scurvy custom of taking tobacco." "(He) spoke spoke such scurvy and provoking terms."

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Etymology of 'Scurvy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scurvy" Quotes from Famous Books

... said—I had now to be as courteous as I could—'I don't want to play anything on you. You may be right in your views that these people have served me a scurvy trick, ...

— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith

... "What a scurvy barin!" mused Selifan as he drove along. "Never have I seen such a barin. I should like to spit in his face. 'Tis better to allow a man nothing to eat than to refuse to feed a horse properly. A horse needs his oats—they are his proper fare. Even if you make a man procure ...

— Dead Souls • Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

... own rotten ship. They're probably getting used to their messman by now. The sudden change of diet might be fatal." The speaker turned to the Young Doctor. "Pills, what d'you get when you change your diet sudden-like—scurvy, or something ...

— A Tall Ship - On Other Naval Occasions • Sir Lewis Anselm da Costa Ritchie

... There was and there was not. The fox lived with the hare in the fields, the bear lived with the wild-boar in the forest, and in the land of Daghestan there lived a hero, a scurvy fellow without brains or bravery. When he should have been in front he was behind; when he should have been behind he was in front; and if his wife only lifted the poker he hid himself behind the door. Oh, he was ...

— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, November, 1878 - of Popular Literature and Science • Various

... Parliament had ignored, whose Press had abused him. The ridiculous balance made him wilfully oblivious that he had seen his name of late eulogized in articles and in books for the right martial qualities. Can a country treating a good soldier—not serving it for pay—in so scurvy a fashion, be struck too hard with our disdain? One cannot tell it in too plain a language how one despises its laws, its moralities, its sham of society. The Club, some choice anecdotists, two or three listeners ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

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