scrimshaw
A small ornamental handicraft created by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other…A small ornamental handicraft created by carving or engraving bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials, formerly produced by sailors on whaling ships to pass the time on long voyages.
Meaning
2 senses(also, attributive, countable)A small ornamental handicraft created by carving or engraving bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials, formerly produced by sailors on whaling ships to pass the time on long voyages.
(also, attributive, uncountable)The manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials, formerly by sailors on whaling ships to pass the time on long voyages.
Scrimshaw
- a carving (or engraving) on whalebone, whale ivory, walrus tusk, etc., usually by American whalers
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
The origin of the verb is unknown, but it has possibly been influenced by the surname ScriThe origin of the verb is unknown, but it has possibly been influenced by the surname Scrimshaw. Various etymologies have been proposed (for example, that it derives from scrimshank (“(Britain, military slang) to be idle, to shirk duty”)), but the Oxford English Dictionary does not consider any of them convincing. Following the surname theory, Etymonline ultimately derives the word probably from Old French escremisseor (“fencing-master”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: scrimshaws| Singular | scrimshaw |
|---|---|
| Plural | scrimshaws |
regular
Synonyms
3 synonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.