scruff

[skruhf] Origin

scruff

1[skruhf]
noun
the nape or back of the neck.

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

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Scruff is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

scruff

2[skruhf]
noun Metallurgy.
(in tin-plating) dross formed in the bath.

Origin:
metathetic variant of scurf
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
scruff1 (skrʌf)
 
n
the nape of the neck (esp in the phrase by the scruff of the neck)
 
[C18: variant of scuft, perhaps from Old Norse skoft hair; related to Old High German scuft]

scruff2 (skrʌf)
 
n
1.  informal an untidy scruffy person
2.  informal a disreputable person, ruffian
3.  another name for scum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

scruff
"nape of the neck," 1790, altered (by influence of scruff "crust") from scuft (1787), probably related to N.Fris. skuft "back of the neck of a horse" and Du. schoft "withers of a horse," from a common Gmc. source (cf. O.N. skopt "hair of the head," Goth. skuft, M.H.G. schopf, Ger. Schopf).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

scruff(y) definition

[ˈskrəf(i)]
  1. mod.
    sloppy; unkempt. : Why don't you clean up this scruff car? It's—like—grody!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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