different between scruff vs tuck

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

See scurf.

Noun

scruff (countable and uncountable, plural scruffs)

1. Someone with an untidy appearance.

2. Stubble, facial hair (on males).
3. (obsolete) Crust.
4. (obsolete) Scurf.

Derived terms

• scruffy

Translations

Etymology 2

1790, from earlier (1787) scuft, influenced by scruff (“crust”). Related to North Frisian skuft (“back of the neck of a horse”) and Dutch schoft (“withers (of a horse)”), from Proto-Germanic. Compare also Old Norse skopt (“hair of the head”), Gothic ???????????????????? (skuft, “hair of the head”), Middle High German schopf (German Schopf).

Noun

scruff (plural scruffs)

1. The loose skin at the back of the neck of some animals.
2. (rare) The back of the neck, nape; also scruff of the neck.

   He grabbed his unruly child by the scruff of the neck, and took him home.

Usage notes

Strictly refers to the loose skin at the back of the neck – found on many mammals, though not humans – rather than the back of the neck itself. While this distinction is not always observed, scruff is used almost exclusively in the phrase “to grab [someone/something] by the scruff [of the neck]”.

Synonyms

• nape
• nucha, nuchal (medical)
• withers (of a horse)

Translations

Verb

scruff (third-person singular simple present scruffs, present participle scruffing, simple past and past participle scruffed)

1. To lift or carry by the scruff.

See also

• scuff

References

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English tuken, touken (“to torment, to stretch (cloth)”), from Old English t?cian (“to torment, vex”) and Middle Dutch tucken (“to tuck”), both from Proto-Germanic *teuh-, *teug- (“to draw, pull”) (compare also *tukk?n?), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Akin to Old High German zucchen (“to snatch, tug”), zuchôn (“to jerk”), Old English t?on (“to draw, pull, train”). Doublet of touch.

Verb

tuck (third-person singular simple present tucks, present participle tucking, simple past and past participle tucked)

1. (transitive) To pull or gather up (an item of fabric). [From 14^thc.]
2. (transitive) To push into a snug position; to place somewhere safe or somewhat hidden. [From 1580s.]
3. (intransitive, often with "in" or "into") To eat; to consume. [From 1780s.]
4. (ergative) To fit neatly.

5. To curl into a ball; to fold up and hold one's legs.

6. To sew folds; to make a tuck or tucks in.

7. To full, as cloth.
8. (LGBT, of a drag queen, trans woman, etc.) To conceal one’s penis and testicles, as with a gaff or by fastening them down with adhesive tape.

9. (when playing scales on piano keys) To keep the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
10. (aviation) Ellipsis of Mach tuck.

Antonyms

• untuck

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

tuck (plural tucks)

1. An act of tucking; a pleat or fold. [From late 14thC.]
2. (sewing) A fold in fabric that has been stitched in place from end to end, as to reduce the overall dimension of the fabric piece.
3. A curled position.
4. (medicine, surgery) A plastic surgery technique to remove excess skin.
5. (music, piano, when playing scales on piano keys) The act of keeping the thumb in position while moving the rest of the hand over it to continue playing keys that are outside the thumb.
6. (diving) A curled position, with the shins held towards the body.
7. (nautical) The afterpart of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail.

Related terms

• tucker

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French estoc (“rapier”), from Italian stocco (“a truncheon, a short sword”)

Noun

tuck (plural tucks)

1. (archaic) A rapier, a sword.
   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2

     [...] with force he labour'd / To free's blade from retentive scabbard; / And after many a painful pluck, / From rusty durance he bail'd tuck [...]

   • 1601, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Act III, Scene I.

     [...] dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly. [...]

Translations

Etymology 3

Compare tocsin.

Noun

tuck (plural tucks)

1. The beat of a drum.

Etymology 4

Old Occitan tuc (“uncooked”).

Noun

tuck (uncountable)

1. (Britain, dated, school slang) Food, especially snack food.

Derived terms

• tuck shop
• tuck box
• tuck in

Manx

Verb

tuck (verbal noun tuckal, past participle tuckit)

1. to full (cloth)

Synonyms

• walk
• giallee