[syn: fink, scab, rat, blackleg]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scab \Scab\ (sk[a^]b), n. [OE. scab, scabbe, shabbe; cf. AS.
scaeb, sceabb, scebb, Dan. & Sw. skab, and also L. scabies,
fr. scabere to scratch, akin to E. shave. See Shave, and
cf. Shab, Shabby.]
1. An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule,
formed by the drying up of the discharge from the diseased
part.
[1913 Webster]
2. The itch in man; also, the scurvy. [Colloq. or Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
3. The mange, esp. when it appears on sheep. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
4. A disease of potatoes producing pits in their surface,
caused by a minute fungus (Tiburcinia Scabies).
[1913 Webster]
5. (Founding) A slight irregular protuberance which defaces
the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a
part of the mold.
[1913 Webster]
6. A mean, dirty, paltry fellow. [Low] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
7. A nickname for a workman who engages for lower wages than
are fixed by the trades unions; also, for one who takes
the place of a workman on a strike. [Cant]
[1913 Webster]
8. (Bot.) Any one of various more or less destructive fungus
diseases attacking cultivated plants, and usually forming
dark-colored crustlike spots.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Scab \Scab\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scabbed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Scabbing.]
1. To become covered with a scab; as, the wound scabbed over.
[1913 Webster]
2. to take the place of a striking worker.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
scab
n 1: someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
[syn: scab, strikebreaker, blackleg, rat]
2: the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion
v 1: form a scab; "the wounds will eventually scab"
2: take the place of work of someone on strike [syn: fink,
scab, rat, blackleg]