scruff

[skruhf]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR scruff ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the nape or back of the neck.

Origin of scruff

1780–90; variant of dial. scuff, scuft < Dutch schoft horse's withers

scruff

[skruhf]

noun Metallurgy.

(in tin-plating) dross formed in the bath.

Origin of scruff

metathetic variant of scurf

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for scruff

froth, collar, residue, crust, dross, spume, waste, algae, film, strait, cape, cervix, nape, isthmus

Examples from the Web for scruff

Contemporary Examples of scruff

He identifies as transgender on Scruff but not always on Grindr.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem
David Levesley
January 9, 2015
Scruff believes that sex is not the primary concern of users.
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem
David Levesley
January 9, 2015
He was as striking in person as he is on screen—thin, white v-neck t-shirt, two-day scruff, artful bedhead.
Robert Pattinson’s Life After ‘Twilight’
Andrew Romano
June 13, 2014
At the end of the month, participants, called Mo Bros and their supporters, Mo Sistas, shave their scruff and have a party.
Behind the Movember Movement’s Fight to Keep Charity Tied to Mustache
Kevin Fallon
November 23, 2012

Historical Examples of scruff

And with that he seized me again by the scruff of the neck and shook me.
Hidden Hand
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
So we adopted a more pressing plan, and coaxed him out by the scruff of his neck.
Novel Notes
Jerome K. Jerome
She came to and tried to bite me, but I had her by the scruff of the neck and she couldn't.
IT and Other Stories
Gouverneur Morris
When dinner-time came we had to be dragged in by the scruff of our necks.
Dream Days
Kenneth Grahame
Bucky would drag you back by the scruff of the neck in two weeks.
Crooked Trails and Straight
William MacLeod Raine

British Dictionary definitions for scruff

scruff

noun

the nape of the neck (esp in the phrase by the scruff of the neck)

Word Origin for scruff

C18: variant of scuft, perhaps from Old Norse skoft hair; related to Old High German scuft

scruff

noun

informal an untidy scruffy person

informal a disreputable person, ruffian

another name for scum (def. 3)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scruff

"nape of the neck," 1790, altered (by influence of scruff "crust") from scuft (1787), probably related to North Frisian skuft "back of the neck of a horse" and Dutch schoft "withers of a horse," from a common Germanic source (cf. Old Norse skopt "hair of the head," Gothic skuft, Middle High German schopf, German Schopf). Another theory holds it to be a variant of scurf.