scrann.
/skran/, U.S. /skræn/ slang and dialect.† 1. (See quot. 1725.) Obsolete.
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1724 in Bacchus & Venus (1737) N 2 E'er for the Scran he had tipt the Cole.
1725 New Canting Dict. Scran, a Reckoning at a Boozing-ken.
2.
a. A collection of eatables; provisions for a slight repast or picnic; a portion of food carried by a labourer into the field for a meal. Also spec. in Nautical slang, food, rations. cold scran, cold refreshment.
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the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > edible material or part
victualc1374
meat?a1425
mealc1547
esculent1633
edible1661
edule1699
scran1808
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. at Skran Fine skran, a phrase used by young people when they meet with any thing, especially what is edible, which they consider as a valuable acquisition, S.
1826–30 T. Wilson Pitman's Pay (1843) i. lxxxi. 14 Se weel she ettles what aw get..That nyen can say we..want for owther claes or scran.
1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue Scran, food. Thieves.
1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Dict. Kentish Dial. Scran, a snack of food; the refreshment that labourers take with them into the fields.
a1892 E. J. Milliken 'Arry Ballads 3 But to cart you off suddent to Chawbaconshire and cold scran... I call it 'ard lines.
1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin i. 8 Them two's on watch now, but they'll be down at eight bells clamourin' for their scran like a lot o' wolves.
a1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) ii. xiii. 135 ‘Scran up!’ he called in his sailor's belling tone against my ear.
1974 Sentinel (Ottawa) X. ii. 6/3 He's the chief cook on board, responsible for the preparation and serving of food—or ‘scran’, according to the hands—to 280 hungry mouths about three times a day.
b. Broken victuals; rarely, scraps of butchers' meat.
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the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > food in terms of quality or quantity
freshOE
farec1275
gorgeful1611
faring1655
scran1808
income1896
spoon1922
functional food1989
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. at Skran Fine skran... 2. The offals or refuse of human food, thrown to dogs, Loth.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 418/1 Most of the lodging-house keepers buy the ‘scran’ (broken victuals) of the cadgers.
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 87 Scran, pieces of meat, broken victuals.
3. Phrase. bad scran to —— ! = ‘bad luck to’. Chiefly Anglo-Irish.
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1841 C. J. Lever Charles O'Malley lxxxv, in Dublin Univ. Mag. May 625/2 Bad scram [sic] to me if I wouldn't marry you out of the face this blessed morning just as soon as I'd look at ye.
1867 P. Kennedy Banks of Boro xxv. 190 But bad scran to the note they'd give me back.
1925 L. Doyle Dear Ducks in B. Share Slanguage (1997) 247/2 I was the makin's of a good shot..but I'm unfortunate at it, bad scran to it, I'm unfortunate.
1989 H. Leonard Out After Dark in B. Share Slanguage (1997) 247/2 The coward wouldn't stand his ground... But he heard me right enough, bad scran to him.
4. (From the verb.) The action of collecting broken victuals.
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1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) at Scran Scranning or ‘out on the scran’, begging for broken victuals.
Compounds
scran bag n. (a) a cadger's receptacle for broken victuals; (b) a soldier's haversack; (c) a receptacle for impounded articles negligently left lying about the deck by sailors.
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1855 J. D. Burn Autobiogr. Beggar Boy i. 17 Your professional pickpocket looks down with contempt upon a knight of the scranbag.
1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) 222 Scran-bag, a soldier's haversack.
1898 Tit-bits 26 Mar. 493/3 The ‘scran~bag’ as the sailors term it, is the receptacle for all loose articles of clothing, &c., which are left about the ship by the men.
1903 L. Yexley in G. T. Wilson Log of H.M.S. Phaeton p. i The Scran Bag.
scran-bag v. to impound (such articles).
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1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 20 We came to the cells, and, lo! the only prisoner was a ‘bike’, ‘scran~bagged’ and awaiting ransom by its owner.
scran-pock n. Scottish (see quot. 1825).
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1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) Skran-pock. a beggar's wallet... 2. A bag meant for receiving the spoil or plunder of the dead who may have fallen in battle, when it is gathered by the women who follow an army... The term was thus explained, at the time of the trial of the Radicals at Falkirk, A. 1819.
scran wallet n. Scottish = scran bag n. (a).
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1861 R. Quinn Heather Lintie (1863) 192 Regardless o' ‘scran~wallat’ watchers, Or vile nefarious beggar catchers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
scranv.
/skran/, U.S. /skræn/ 1. slang.
a. transitive. To provide with ‘scran’ or food.
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c1742 in W. Hone Every-day Bk. II. 527 Tickets to be had for three Megs a Carcass to scran their Pannum-Boxes.
b. intransitive. To collect scran or broken victuals.
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1839 in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue (1857) 33 Scranning, begging. [Peculiar to the Scotch.]
1859 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang 87 Scranning, begging for broken victuals.
2. Scottish. transitive and intransitive. (See quots.)
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1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. To Skran, to make a promiscuous collection of things in whatever way, either by fair or by foul means, Edin.
1867 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 162 Skran, to gain; to gather; to catch; as, ‘Fin we're at the Heilan fishan, we're eye skrannin' something’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1724v.c1742