Definition: scab

Part of Speech Definition
Noun 1. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.[Wordnet]
2. The crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion.[Wordnet]
3. An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed by the drying up of the discharge from the diseased part.[Websters]
4. The itch in man; also, the scurvy.[Websters]
5. The mange, esp. when it appears on sheep.[Websters]
6. A disease of potatoes producing pits in their surface, caused by a minute fungus (Tiburcinia Scabies).[Websters]
7. A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.[Websters]
8. A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.[Websters]
9. A nickname for a workman who engages for lower wages than are fixed by the trades unions; also, for one who takes the place of a workman on a strike.[Websters].
Verb 1. Form a scab; "the wounds will eventually scab".[Wordnet]
2. Take the place of work of someone on strike.[Wordnet]
3. To become covered with a scab; as, the wound scabbed over.[Websters]
4. Base verb from the following inflections: scabbing, scabbed, scabs, scabber, scabbers, scabbingly and scabbedly.[Eve - graph theoretic]


1: Noun. Source: Linguistic 101 students at the University of Oregon. Definition: A person who works non-union. Context: Used by union construction workers to talk about the non-union workers. Social Source: Construction Workers. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references)
2: Noun. Source: Linguistic 101 students at the University of Oregon. Definition: A scab is a worker, typically a non-union employee, that works in place of a striking worker. Context: This term would be used by union employees, during a strike, to refer to replacement workers. Social Source: SEIU-OPEU Local 085 Union Members. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references)
Slang in 1811 SCAB. A worthless man or woman. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
Wiktionary 1: [Noun] (botany) Any one of various more or less destructive fungus diseases attacking cultivated plants, and forming dark-colored crustlike spots. (references)
2: [Noun] (colloquial or obsolete) The scabies. (references)
3: [Noun] (founding) A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold. (references)
4: [Noun] (slang) A strikebreaker. (references)
5: [Noun] (slang) A worker who works for less than the rate fixed by the trade union. (references)
6: [Noun] A mean, dirty, paltry fellow. (references)
7: [Noun] An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing. (references)
8: [Noun] Several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by Streptomyces -bacteria. (references)
9: [Noun] Short form for common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab caused by Streptomyces scabies. (references)
10: [Noun] The mange, especially when it appears on sheep. 1882: Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling. � James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 306. (references)
11: [Verb] (intransitive) To act as strikebreaker. (references)
12: [Verb] (intransitive) To get covered by a scab. (references)