different between scold vs outscold

English

Etymology

The noun is from Middle English scold(e), skald(e), first attested in the 12th or 13th century (as scold, scolde, skolde, skald). The verb is from Middle English scolden, first attested in the late 1300s. Most dictionaries derive the verb from the noun and say the noun is probably from Old Norse skald (“poet”) (cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”)), as skalds sometimes wrote insulting poems, though another view is that the Norse and English words are cognate to each other and to Old High German skeldan, Old Dutch skeldan, all inherited from Proto-Germanic *skeldan? (“scold”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sk??ld/, [sk???d]
• (US) IPA^(key): /sko?ld/
• Rhymes: -??ld

Noun

scold (plural scolds)

1. A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     A ?claunderous tunge, a tunge of a ?kolde,
     Worketh more mi?chiefe than can be tolde;
     That, if I wi?t not to be controlde,
     Yet ?omwhat to ?ay I dare well be bolde,
     How ?ome delite for to lye, thycke and threfolde.

   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XVIII [Uniform ed., p. 196]:

     “Well, I won’t have it, and that’s enough.” She laughed, for her voice had a little been that of the professional scold.

Alternative forms

• scould, scolde (obsolete)

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:shrew

Related terms

• scold's bridle

Translations

Verb

scold (third-person singular simple present scolds, present participle scolding, simple past and past participle scolded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To rebuke angrily.
   • 1813, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

     A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her —
2. (ornithology) Of birds, to make harsh vocalisations in aggression.
3. Of birds, to make vocalisations that resemble human scolding.
4. Misconstruction of scald

Derived terms

• outscold

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:criticize

Translations

References

Anagrams

• clods, clos'd, colds

English

Etymology

out- +? scold

Verb

outscold (third-person singular simple present outscolds, present participle outscolding, simple past and past participle outscolded)

1. (transitive) To scold more than.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 2,^[1]

     There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace;

     We grant thou canst outscold us: fare thee well;

     We hold our time too precious to be spent

     With such a brabbler.

   • 1785, William Cowper, The Task, London: J. Johnson, Book Four, p. 139,^[2]

     Not such his evening, who with shining face

     Sweats in the crowded theatre, and squeezed

     And bored with elbow-points through both his sides,

     Out scolds the ranting actor on the stage.

   • 1812, Mary Russell Mitford, letter addressed to William Elford dated 12 July, 1812, in A. G. K. L’Estrange (ed.), The Life of Mary Russell Mitford, Told by Herself in Letters to Her Friends, New York: Harper, 1870, Volume I, p. 162,^[3]

     And as to singers, I am certain that one of them goes as high as Catalani: I never heard any thing to equal it except a friend of mine who went into hysterics because she was outscolded by her husband. She, I think, did scream louder.

   • 1897, James Monroe, “The Early Abolitionists” in Oberlin Thursday Lectures: Addresses and Essays, Oberlin, Ohio: Edward J. Goodrich, pp. 22-23,^[4]

     This jocose tirade had the intended effect. The lady felt herself outscolded and declined the contest.