4. (Bot.) Composed of scales lying over each other; as, a scaly bulb;
covered with scales; as, a scaly stem.
Scaly ant-eater (Zoöl.), the pangolin.
Scal"y-winged` (?), a. (Zoöl.) Scale-winged.
Scam"ble (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scambled (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Scambling.] [Cf. OD. schampelen to deviate, to slip, schampen to go
away, escape, slip, and E. scamper, shamble.] 1. To move awkwardly; to
be shuffling, irregular, or unsteady; to sprawl; to shamble. "Some
scambling shifts." Dr. H. More. "A fine old hall, but a scambling
house." Evelyn.
2. To move about pushing and jostling; to be rude and turbulent; to
scramble. "The scambling and unquiet time did push it out of . . .
question." Shak.
Scam"ble, v. t. To mangle. [Obs.] Mortimer.
Scam"bler (?), n. 1. One who scambles.
2. A bold intruder upon the hospitality of others; a mealtime visitor.
[Scot.]
Scam"bling*ly (?), adv. In a scambling manner; with turbulence and
noise; with bold intrusiveness.
{ Scam"ell (?), or Scam"mel }, n. (Zoöl.) The female bar-tailed godwit.
[Prov. Eng.]
Whether this is the scamel mentioned by Shakespeare ["Tempest," ii. 2]
is not known.
||Sca*mil"lus (?), n.; pl. Scamilli (#). [L., originally, a little
||bench, dim. of scamnum bench, stool.] (Arch.) A sort of second plinth
||or block, below the bases of Ionic and Corinthian columns, generally
||without moldings, and of smaller size horizontally than the pedestal.
Scam*mo"ni*ate (?), a. Made from scammony; as, a scammoniate aperient.
Scam"mo*ny (skm"m*n), n. [F. scammonée, L. scammonia, scammonea, Gr.
skammwni`a.] 1. (Bot.) A species of bindweed or Convolvulus (C.
Scammonia).
2. An inspissated sap obtained from the root of the Convolvulus
Scammonia, of a blackish gray color, a nauseous smell like that of old
cheese, and a somewhat acrid taste. It is used in medicine as a
cathartic.
Scamp (skmp), n. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape.
Originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.] A
rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey.
Scamp, v. t. [Cf. Scamp,n., or Scant, a., and Skimp.] To perform in a
hasty, neglectful, or imperfect manner; to do superficially. [Colloq.]
A workman is said to scamp his work when he does it in a
superficial, dishonest manner.
Wedgwood.
Much of the scamping and dawdling complained of is that of men in
establishments of good repute.
T. Hughes.
||Scam`pa*vi"a (?), n. [It.] A long, low war galley used by the
||Neapolitans and Sicilians in the early part of the nineteenth
||century.
Scam"per (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scampered (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Scampering.] [OF. escamper to escape, to save one's self; L. ex from +
campus the field (sc. of battle). See Camp, and cf. Decamp, Scamp, n.,
Shamble, v. t.] To run with speed; to run or move in a quick, hurried
manner; to hasten away. Macaulay.
The lady, however, . . . could not help scampering about the room
after a mouse.
S. Sharpe.
Scam"per, n. A scampering; a hasty flight.
Scam"per*er (?), n. One who scampers. Tyndell.
Scamp"ish (?), a. Of or like a scamp; knavish; as, scampish conduct.
Scan (skn), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scanned (sknd); p. pr. & vb. n.
Scanning.] [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand
to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
1. To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [Obs.]
Nor stayed till she the highest stage had scand.
Spenser.
2. Specifically (Pros.), to go through with, as a verse, marking and
distinguishing the feet of which it is composed; to show, in reading,
the metrical structure of; to recite metrically.
3. To go over and examine point by point; to examine with care; to look
closely at or into; to scrutinize.
The actions of men in high stations are all conspicuous, and liable
to be scanned and sifted.
Atterbury.
Scan"dal (?), n. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. &?;, a snare laid
for an enemy, a stumbling block, offense, scandal: cf. OE. scandle, OF.
escandle. See Slander.] 1. Offense caused or experienced; reproach or
reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal,
heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace.
O, what a scandal is it to our crown, That two such noble peers as
ye should jar!
Shak.
[I] have brought scandal To Israel, diffidence of God, and doubt In
feeble hearts.
Milton.
2. Reproachful aspersion; opprobrious censure; defamatory talk, uttered
heedlessly or maliciously.
You must not put another scandal on him.
Shak.
My known virtue is from scandal free.
Dryden.
3. (Equity) Anything alleged in pleading which is impertinent, and is
reproachful to any person, or which derogates from the dignity of the
court, or is contrary to good manners. Daniell.
Syn. -- Defamation; detraction; slander; calumny; opprobrium; reproach;
shame; disgrace.
Scan"dal (?), v. t. 1. To treat opprobriously; to defame; to asperse;
to traduce; to slander. [R.]