scutch

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English *scucchen, from Anglo-Norman escucher, from Vulgar Latin *excuticāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʌt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  Rhymes: -ʌtʃ

Verb

scutch (third-person singular simple present scutches, present participle scutching, simple past and past participle scutched)

1. (obsolete, UK, Scotland, Northern England, dialect) To beat or whip; to drub.
2. To separate the woody fibre from (flax, hemp, etc.) by beating; to swingle.
   • 2005, John Martin, Warren Leonard, David Stamp, and Richard Waldren, Principles of Field Crop Production (4th Edition), section 32.10 “Processing Fiber Flax”, the title of subsection 32.10.3 “Scutching”.
   • 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:

     His prey was more often the over-scutched huswives, the threepenny whores with well-whipped backs, both from the beadle and their own hot-blooded clients.

Derived terms

• scutching sword

Translations

beat or flog

• Bulgarian: чукам (bg) (čukam)

to strip off as the cuticle from the fibre

• Bulgarian: мъна (mǎna)
• Dutch: zwingelen (nl)
• Finnish: vitoa
• French: écanguer (fr)
• Galician: tascar, espadelar (gl)
• German: schwingen (de)
• Italian: scotolare
• Lithuanian: brukti (flax)
• Maori: parahuhu
• Russian: трепа́ть (ru) (trepátʹ)
• Spanish: tascar (es)
• Swedish: skäkta (sv)
• Welsh: ffustio

Noun

Scutch (or swingle) (sense 1)

scutch (countable and uncountable, plural scutches)

1. (countable) A wooden implement shaped like a large knife used to separate the valuable fibres of flax or hemp by beating them and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions.

   Synonyms: scutcher, swingle

2. (uncountable) The woody fibre of flax or hemp; the refuse of scutched flax or hemp.
   • 1897, Vincent J. Leatherdale, A Lady of Wales:

     the labourers went peacefully about their usual employments, some driving teams of ponderous horses at the plough, others burning scutch and brambles, the rubbish of field and forest.

3. (countable) A bricklayer's small picklike tool with two cutting edges (or prongs) for dressing stone or cutting and trimming bricks.

   Synonym: scotch

Derived terms

• scutch grass

Translations

knife-shaped tool used to separate woody fiber from flax or hemp

• Bulgarian: мъналка f (mǎnalka)
• Catalan: espadadora f
• Dutch: zwingel (nl) m
• Finnish: vidin (fi)
• French: écang (fr) m
• Galician: tasca (gl), espadela (gl) f, tascón m
• German: Flachsschwinge f, Hanfschwinge f
• Italian: maciulla (it) f, scotola (it) f
• Polish: klepaczka f
• Russian: трепа́ло (ru) (trepálo)
• Spanish: espadilla (es) f
• Swedish: skäktkniv (sv) c, skäkta (sv) c
• Welsh: ffust lin f, llinffust f

refuse of scutched flax

• Galician: tasco m
• Maori: kaku, kakukaku

Etymology 2

From Irish.

Noun

scutch (plural scutches)

1. A tuft or clump of grass.