scye

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots sey (“armhole, cut of beef”), from Middle Scots say, possibly from Old Norse segi, sigi (“chunk, bite”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *segô, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

scye (plural scyes)

  1. An armhole (or, occasionally, a leghole) in tailoring and dressmaking.
    • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:
      on the seat lay folded a pair of blue cotton pants creased at the groin, their short fly zippered open, and over them a white underbrief, the sinus of its pouch humped between elliptical scyes.

References

  1. ^ “say, n.3”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
  2. ^ Jan de Vries (1977) [1957–1960], “segi, sigi”, in Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Old Norse Etymological Dictionary] (in German), 3rd edition, Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →OCLC, page 467.

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