Meaning of Scurvy | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.
   uncountable, usually
2. A contemptible or despicable person.
   countable, derogatory, figuratively, usually
3. A cattle disease, perhaps affecting the skin.
   broadly, obsolete, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.”

“[H]ee will go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spaniards throats but he will haue it, byrlady when he comes there, poore ſoule hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruies; […]”

“[W]hich excellent plant [scurvy-grass], Cæſars ſoldiers […] found to preuaile […] againſt that plague and hurtfull diſeaſe of the teeth, gums, and ſinevves, called the Scuruie, being a depriuation of all good bloode and moiſture, in the vvhole bodie, called Scorbutum; in Engliſh the Scuruie, and Skyrbie: […]”

“[N]ovv vve have looſed the plough in the fields, they'l find vvork enough about home to keep us from the ſcurvey.”

“The Scurvies is the Mother and Nurſery of all Diſeaſes: and upon taking old, or any diſorder of Body, they branch out one Diſtemper or other, and yet the grand cauſe, vvhich is the Scurvies, remains all in one Body.”

“But I muſt allovv that this VVater is moſt indovv'd vvith theſe Acid Streams by this means, and may repute it as moſt Medicinal in Scurvies, on the Score of the Quantity of Acid, Chalybeat, and Allummy, extraordinary in this.”

“Native Animal Oils, as Fat, Cream, Butter, Marrovv, eſpecially the laſt, vvhich is excellent in ſome Scurvies.”

“And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach.”

“The chief use, however, of the fresh provisions was for the men with the scurvy. One of them was able to eat, and he soon brought himself to by gnawing upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time, was hardly able to open his mouth; and the cook took the potatoes raw, pounded them in a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink.”

“Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.”

“Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.”

“Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.”

“Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]”

CEFR level