SCAB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scab mean? 

• SCAB (noun)
  The noun SCAB has 2 senses:

1. someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike

2. the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion

  Familiarity information: SCAB used as a noun is rare.

• SCAB (verb)
  The verb SCAB has 2 senses:

1. form a scab

2. take the place of work of someone on strike

  Familiarity information: SCAB used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCAB (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

blackleg; rat; scab; strikebreaker

Hypernyms ("scab" is a kind of...):

worker (a person who works at a specific occupation)

Derivation:

scab (take the place of work of someone on strike)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("scab" is a kind of...):

solid body substance (the solid parts of the body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scab"):

eschar (a dry scab formed on the skin following a burn or cauterization of the skin)

Holonyms ("scab" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Derivation:

scab (form a scab)

scabby (covered with scabs)

• SCAB (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scab    ... he / she / it scabs   
Past simple: scabbed   
Past participle: scabbed   
-ing form: scabbing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form a scab

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

the wounds will eventually scab

Hypernyms (to "scab" is one way to...):

heal (get healthy again)

Sentence frame:

Somebody's (body part) ----s

Derivation:

scab (the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take the place of work of someone on strike

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

blackleg; fink; rat; scab

Hypernyms (to "scab" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

scab (someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike)

 Context examples 

He was a lean little rat of a man, with a scab on his chin.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The skin may blister and scab over.

(Cellulitis, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

It usually presents in the face with honey colored scabs.

(Impetigo, NCI Thesaurus)

The rash turns into fluid-filled blisters and eventually into scabs.

(Chickenpox, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Nor could he have guessed that the particular five dollars that belonged to him had been appropriated by the business manager for the painting of his house in Alameda, which painting he performed himself, on week-day afternoons, because he could not afford to pay union wages and because the first scab he had employed had had a ladder jerked out from under him and been sent to the hospital with a broken collar-bone.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)