Spume vs Scum - What's the difference?
spume | scum | Related terms |
Foam or froth of liquid, particularly that of sea water.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
* {{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title= * 1906 , (Jack London), , part I, ch I,
To froth.
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(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.
As nouns the difference between spume and scum
is that spume is foam or froth of liquid, particularly that of sea water while scum is a layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).As verbs the difference between spume and scum
is that spume is to froth while scum is to remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.).spume
English
Noun
(-)- Materials dark and crude, / Of spiritous and fiery spume .
The Lonely Pyramid, passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
- Their breath froze in the air as it left their mouths, spouting forth in spumes of vapour that settled upon the hair of their bodies and formed into crystals of frost.
