different between scold vs scuff

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeuban? (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at English shove.

Verb

scuff (third-person singular simple present scuffs, present participle scuffing, simple past and past participle scuffed)

1. To scrape the feet while walking.
2. To hit lightly, to brush against.
3. To mishit (a shot on a ball) due to poor contact with the ball.

Derived terms

• scuff mark

Related terms

• scuffle

Translations

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. (sometimes attributive) A mark left by scuffing or scraping.

   Someone left scuff marks in the sand.

   • 2015, Charles W. Jones, Hydrangeas on the Lanai

     He flung his shoes across the room, their soles leaving black scuffs on the dingy wall.

Related terms

• scuffed

Translations

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 2

Noun

scuff (plural scuffs)

1. A scurf; a scale.
2. The back part of the neck; the scruff.
   • 1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do with It?

     One of the biggest and most redoubted of the Black Family was now in that seat of dignity, and, refusing surlily to yield it at Jasper's rude summons, was seized by the scuff of the neck, and literally hurled on the table in front.

See also

• scoff
• scruff

Anagrams

• Cuffs, cuffs