scrip

¹ American  

[skrip] / skrɪp /

noun

1. a receipt, certificate, list, or similar brief piece of writing.

2. a scrap of paper.

3. Finance.

   1. a certificate representing a fraction of a share of stock.

   2. a certificate to be exchanged for goods, as at a company store.

   3. a certificate indicating the right of the holder to receive payment later in the form of cash, goods, or land.

4. paper currency in denominations of less than one dollar, formerly issued in the United States.

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scrip ² American  

[skrip] / skrɪp /

noun

Archaic.

1. a bag or wallet carried by wayfarers.

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scrip ³ American  

[skrip] / skrɪp /

noun

Informal.

1. a prescription, as for a drug.

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scrip ¹ British  

/ skrɪp /

noun

1. a written certificate, list, etc

2. a small scrap, esp of paper with writing on it

3. finance

   1. a certificate representing a claim to part of a share of stock

   2. the shares allocated in a bonus issue

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scrip ² British  

/ skrɪp /

noun

1. archaic a small bag or wallet, as carried by pilgrims

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scrip ³ British  

/ skrɪp /

noun

1. informal a medical prescription

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Other Word Forms

• scripless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of scrip¹

First recorded in 1610–20; earliest sense “scrap of paper” perhaps a variant of scrap ¹; subsequent sense development shows influence of script and subscription, with scrip ¹ def. 3a specifically a shortening of subscription receipt

Origin of scrip²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English scrip(pe), skreppe “bag, satchel, pilgrim's purse,” from Old French escharpe, escherpe, escreppe, Medieval Latin scrippa, scrippum, scerpa, schrippa “pilgrim's pack,” via Frankish from Latin scirpea “large reed basket,” derivative of scirpus “reed, bulrush”

Origin of scrip³

First recorded in 1915–20; shortening of prescription

Example Sentences

After a little thought your correspondent was dubbed: Mad Scrip.

From Economist • Aug. 15, 2013

Although offered a spare sleeping bag and a night in front of the jungle campfire, sadly Mad Scrip was obliged to make her excuses and leave.

From Economist • Aug. 15, 2013

"Literatorum virorum fautor et M�cenas habebatur �tate sua maximus ac doctissimus," says Bale: Scrip.

From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall

But what is Scrip youffing at from the bow?

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846 by Various

Scrip, skrip, n. that which is written: a piece of paper containing writing: a certificate of stock or shares in any joint-stock company subscribed or allotted.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various