scut
A short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deerA short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer.
Meaning
6 sensesA short, erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer.
Shakespeare's use of the word scut may be a sly reference to Mistress Ford's pudenda: see sense 3.
Blume
a short erect tail
(broadly)The buttocks or rump; also, the female pudenda, the vulva.
(Ireland, colloquial)A contemptible person.
(attributive, countable, uncountable)Distasteful work; drudgery
(countable, slang, uncountable)Some menial procedure left for a doctor or medical student to complete, sometimes for training purposes.
(obsolete)A hare; (hunting, also figuratively) a hare as the game in a hunt.
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English scut (“hare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to MiddleFrom Middle English scut (“hare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Middle English scut, scute (“short”), possibly from Old French escorter, escurter, or Latin excurtāre, scurtāre, from curtō (“to cut short, shorten”), from curtus (“short; shortened”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”)) + -ō. A derivation from Old Norse skut, skutr (“stern of a boat”), or Icelandic skott (“animal's tail”) is thought to be unlikely.
Uncertain, possibly a variant of scout (“(obsolete except Scotland) contemptible person”), possibly related to scout (“to reject with contempt; to scoff”), from a North Germanic language; compare Old Norse skúta, skúte (“a taunt”), probably from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to shoot; to throw”). Compare Old Norse skútyrði, skotyrði (“abusive language”).
Uncertain; perhaps related to scut (“contemptible person”): see etymology 2.
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