The AI-powered English dictionary
third-person singular simple present scutches, present participle scutching, simple past and past participle scutched
(obsolete, UK, Scotland, Northern England, dialect) To beat or whip; to drub.
To separate the woody fibre from (flax, hemp, etc.) by beating; to swingle. quotations examples
His prey was more often the over-scutched huswives, the threepenny whores with well-whipped backs, both from the beadle and their own hot-blooded clients.
1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff
countable and uncountable, plural scutches
(countable) A wooden implement shaped like a large knife used to separate the valuable fibres of flax or hemp by beating them and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions. examples
(uncountable) The woody fibre of flax or hemp; the refuse of scutched flax or hemp. quotations examples
the labourers went peacefully about their usual employments, some driving teams of ponderous horses at the plough, others burning scutch and brambles, the rubbish of field and forest.
1897, Vincent J. Leatherdale, A Lady of Wales
(countable) A bricklayer's small picklike tool with two cutting edges (or prongs) for dressing stone or cutting and trimming bricks. examples
plural scutches
A tuft or clump of grass. examples