Scum vs Dirty - What's the difference?
scum | dirty |
(uncountable) A layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).
(uncountable) A greenish water vegetation (such as algae), usually found floating on the surface of ponds
The topmost liquid layer of a cesspool or septic tank.
(uncountable, slang, chiefly US) semen
(countable, derogatory, slang) A reprehensible person or persons.
(countable, derogatory, slang) police officer(s)
To remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.).
To remove (something) as scum.
*1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.vii:
*:Some scumd the drosse, that from the metall came; / Some stird the molten owre with ladles great.
To become covered with scum.
*1769 , Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English House-keeper , pp.321-322:
*:Take the smallest Cucumbers you can get, and as free from Spots as possible, put them into a strong Salt and Water for nine or ten Days, or 'till they are quite Yellow, and stir them twice a Day at least, or they will scum over, and grow soft
(obsolete) To scour (the land, sea etc.).
*:
*:SOo by Merlyns aduys ther were sente fore rydars to skumme the Countreye / & they mette with the fore rydars of the north / and made hem to telle whiche wey the hooste cam / and thenne they told it to Arthur / and by kyng Ban and Bors counceill they lete brenne and destroye alle the contrey afore them there they shold ryde
*Milton
*:Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates.
(obsolete) To gather together, as scum.
*1815 , Rudolf Ackerman and Frederic Shoberl, The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics :
*:A great majority of the members are scummed together from the Jacobinical dregs of former periods of the revolution.
To startscum or savescum.
Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.
*
That makes one unclean; corrupting, infecting.
Morally unclean; obscene or indecent, especially sexually.
Dishonourable; violating accepted standards or rules.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
, volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Corrupt, illegal, or improper.
Out of tune.
Of color, discolored by impurities.
(computing) Containing data which need to be written back to a larger memory.
(slang) Carrying illegal drugs among one's possessions or inside of one's bloodstream.
(informal) Used as an intensifier, especially in conjunction with "great".
Sleety; gusty; stormy.
* M. Arnold
* (Douglas Adams),
To make (something) dirty.
To stain or tarnish (somebody) with dishonor.
To debase by distorting the real nature of (something).
To become soiled.
As verbs the difference between scum and dirty
is that scum is to remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.) while dirty is to make (something) dirty.As a noun scum
is a layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).As an adjective dirty is
unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.As an adverb dirty is
in a dirty manner.scum
English
Alternative forms
* (l)Noun
Synonyms
* (layer of impurities) dross, impurities * (layer of impurities on molten metal) cinder, scoriae, slag * (person considered reprehensible) bastardVerb
(scumm)Anagrams
* *dirty
English
Adjective
(er)The tao of tech, passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable.
- Storms of wind, clouds of dust, an angry, dirty sea.
- Rain type 17 was a dirty blatter battering against his windscreen so hard that it didn't make much odds whether he had his wipers on or off.