scullion
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See also: Scullion
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Either from Middle French escouillon (“a swab, cloth”), diminutive of escouve (“broom, twig”) from Latin scopa, or an alteration of Old French souillon (“scullion”) by influence of scullery.
Noun[edit]
scullion (plural scullions)
- A servant of the lower classes.
- 1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume V, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], →OCLC, page 52:
- They all looked directly at the ſcullion,—the ſcullion had juſt been ſcouring a fiſh-kettle.
- (obsolete, derogatory) A low, base person. [1400s]
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- Away, you scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian!
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
scullion (plural scullions)
- Alternative form of scallion