scruff
pronunciation
How to pronounce scruff in British English:
UK [skrʌf]
How to pronounce scruff in American English:
US [skrʌf]
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- Noun:
- the back side of the neck
Word Origin
- scruff (n.)
- "nape of the neck," 1790, altered (by influence of scruff "crust") from scuft (1787), probably related to North Frisian skuft "back of the neck of a horse" and Dutch schoft "withers of a horse," from a common Germanic source (compare Old Norse skopt "hair of the head," Gothic skuft, Middle High German schopf, German Schopf). Another theory holds it to be a variant of scurf.
Example
- 1. Those old jeans make you look a terrible scruff !
- 2. What , you don 't like the scruff ?
- 3. In the open part of each truck stood three hapless chinese , each held by the scruff of the neck by a uniformed policeman and each wearing a large sign with the name " economic criminal . "
- 4. After being bailed to his family , and sent to his local court for sentencing , the boy set off alone down the street , before his aunt and mother chased after him , dragging him back by the scruff of his neck .