scald
English
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /skɔld/, (cot–caught merger) /skɑld/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (UK) IPA(key): /skɔːld/, /skɒld/
- Rhymes: -ɔːld
- Homophone: skald
Etymology 1
From Middle English scalden, from Old Northern French escalder (cf. central Old French eschauder, eschalder), from Late Latin excaldāre (“bathe in hot water”), from ex- (“off, out”) + cal(i)dus (“hot”).[1]
Verb
scald (third-person singular simple present scalds, present participle scalding, simple past and past participle scalded)
- To burn with hot liquid.
- to scald the hand
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals), page vii, line 48:
- Mine own tears / Do scald like molten lead.
- 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis:
- Here the blue flames of scalding brimstone fall.
- 1943 March and April, “Notes and News: Southern Locomotive Destroys Raider”, in Railway Magazine, page 119:
- The fireman was scalded by steam, but he did not fare so badly as the enemy pilot, whose dead body was found on a bank about 100 yd. away from the train.
- (cooking) To heat almost to boiling.
- Scald the milk until little bubbles form.
Translations
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Noun
scald (plural scalds)
- A burn, or injury to the skin or flesh, by hot liquid or steam.
- (Appalachia) Poor or bad land.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
Alteration of scall or scalled.
Noun
scald (uncountable)
- (obsolete) Scaliness; a scabby skin disease.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Her craftie head was altogether bald, / And as in hate of honorable eld, / Was ouergrowne with scurfe and filthy scald […].
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- Some heale Horses, some cure men, some the plague, some the scald [translating teigne], some the cough, some one kinde of scab, and some another […].
Adjective
scald (comparative more scald, superlative most scald)
- (obsolete) Affected with the scab; scabby.
- Synonym: scalled
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, act III, scene i, line 110:
- and let us knog our / prains together to be revenge on this same scald, scurvy, / cogging companion,
- (obsolete) Paltry; worthless.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
- Would it not grieue a King to be so abuſ’d?
And haue a thouſand horſmen tane away?
And which is worſe to haue his Diadem
Sought for by ſuch ſcalde knaues as loue him not?
- 1598, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, act V, scene ii, line 215:
- Saucy lictors / Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers / Ballad us out o' tune.
Synonyms
- (scabby): roynish, scurvy; see also Thesaurus:scabby
- (paltry): contemptible, miserable, trashy; see also Thesaurus:despicable
Derived terms
Etymology 3
Noun
scald (plural scalds)
- Alternative form of skald.
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter I, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 28:
- The fire was spreading rapidly through all parts of the castle, when Ulrica, who had first kindled it, appeared on a turret, in the guise of one of the ancient furies, yelling forth a war-song, such as was of yore chaunted on the field of battle by the scalds of the yet heathen Saxons.
References
- “scald”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “scald”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
See also
- scald-crow (possibly etymologically related to above)
Anagrams
Middle Scots
Pronunciation
- (Early Scots) IPA(key): [skauld]
- (Early Middle Scots) IPA(key): [skɑːld], [skaːld]
- (Late Middle Scots) IPA(key): [skɑːld], [skaːld]
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English scald, later spelling of scallede affected with the scall, contemptible.
Alternative forms
Adjective
scald
- affected by a scabby disease of the skin or scalp
- scabby, passing into an expression of general opprobrium or revulsion, foul, filthy
Derived terms
- a skabbed horse is good enough for a skald squir
- a skade mans head is soon broken
- he cals me skabbed because I will not call him skade
Etymology 2
Inherited from Middle English scald, apparently obsolete after 1483, from Old Norse skáld (“poet”).
Alternative forms
Noun
scald
- one given to the use of vituperation or abusive language
- one who by the use of such language causes public disturbance
- a foul-mouthed quarreller (applied to both men and women, but in the 17th century perh. increasingly to women.)
Etymology 3
Possibly from English scald, first certified in 1601.
Alternative forms
- skaid, scad
Noun
scald
Derived terms
- hart-scald
- hartskaid
Etymology 4
Inherited from Middle English schalde, from Old French eschalder (“to burn, scald”), from Late Latin excaldāre (“to wash in hot water”).
Alternative forms
Verb
scald
- (transitive, of fire) to scorch or burn (also of the fire of Purgatory)
- to affect (something) in a way comparable to the effect produced by the action of hot water or steam; to damage severely
- to cleanse, wash out or sterilise with boiling water
- (used only in proverbs) to cause (one's lips) to be scalded or burned by eating hot food (also with reflexive object.)
- (intransitive) to suffer the effects of excessive heat; to faint or swoon in consequence of (with) this; to shrivel up
- to behave as if boiling, or about to boil; to froth; to bubble
- to set fire to property, etc.; to burn
Conjugation
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Etymology 5
Inherited from Middle English scolden.
Alternative forms
Verb
scald
- (intransitive) to rail; to brawl; to quarrel noisily and in unseemly terms
- (transitive) to rebuke, chide
Conjugation
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Further reading
- “scald”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈskald/
- Rhymes: -ald
Etymology 1
Verb
scald
- first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of scălda
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French scalde.
Noun
scald m (plural scalzi)