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Scum   /skəm/   Listen
noun
Scum  n.  
1.
The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a molten state; dross. "Some to remove the scum as it did rise."
2.
Refuse; recrement; anything vile or worthless. "The great and innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people."



verb
Scum  v. t.  (past & past part. scummed; pres. part. scumming)  
1.
To take the scum from; to clear off the impure matter from the surface of; to skim. "You that scum the molten lead."
2.
To sweep or range over the surface of. (Obs.) "Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates."



Scum  v. i.  To form a scum; to become covered with scum. Also used figuratively. "Life, and the interest of life, have stagnated and scummed over."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Scum" Quotes from Famous Books



... Lasker said, 'A man who can humanize a rock, or a tree, or a chipmunk ought to be able to make even those things seem human. You've got what they call the fresh viewpoint. New York's full of people with a scum over their eyes, but a lot of them came to New York from Winnebago, or towns just like it, and you'd be surprised at the number of them who still get their home town paper. One day, when I came into Lee Kohl's office, ...
— Fanny Herself • Edna Ferber

... effected by one in a standing posture, not by one while he is going along.' And Utanka having agreed to this, sat down with his face towards the east, and washed his face, hands, and feet thoroughly. And he then, without a noise, sipped thrice of water free from scum and froth, and not warm, and just sufficient to reach his stomach and wiped his face twice. And he then touched with water the apertures of his organs (eyes, ears, etc.). And having done all this, he once more entered the apartments of the women. And this time he saw the Queen. And as ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... ludicrous appearance which Santander presented. He had come to the surface again, and, with some difficulty, owing to the encumbrance of his under-shirt, clambered out upon the bank. But not as when he went under. Instead, with what appeared a green cloak over his shoulders, the scum of the stagnant water long collecting undisturbed. The hackney-driver—there was but one now, the other taken off by Duperon, who had hired him, their doctor too—joined with Rock in his laughter, while Kearney, Crittenden, ...
— The Free Lances - A Romance of the Mexican Valley • Mayne Reid

... west and a good watersky. It consisted partly of heavy hummocky ice showing evidence of great pressure, but contained also many thick, flat floes evidently formed in some sheltered bay and never subjected to pressure or to much motion. The swirl of the ship's wash brought diatomaceous scum from the sides of this ice. The water became thick with diatoms at 9 a.m., and I ordered a cast to be made. No bottom was found at 210 fathoms. The 'Endurance' continued to advance southward through loose pack that morning. We saw the spouts of ...
— South! • Sir Ernest Shackleton

... Government only troubled itself about the corps d'elite; that the object in the line regiments was to get substitutes as cheaply as possible; consequently, they are filled with men physically and morally the scum of the nation. Semaphore telegraphs have been put up on all the high public buildings. There are also semaphores on the forts. I see that one opposite me is exchanging signals. The crowd watch them as though by looking they would discover what they ...
— Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris • Henry Labouchere


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