scrimshaw

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈskɹɪmʃɔː/
  Play
• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play
• General-American: /ˈskɹɪmˌʃɔ/
  Play
• General-American: /-ˌʃɑ/
  Play
• CMU ARPABET: S K R IH1 M SH AO2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  Play

The origin of the verb is unknown, but it has possibly been influenced by the surname Scrimshaw. Various etymologies have been proposed (for example, that it derives from scrimshank (“(Britain, military slang) to be idle, to shirk duty”)), but the Oxford English Dictionary does not consider any of them convincing. Following the surname theory, Etymonline ultimately derives the word probably from Old French escremisseor (“fencing-master”). The noun is probably derived from the verb.

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: سكريمشا — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Catalan: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Dutch: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Faroese: skurðmynd — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Finnish: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Finnish: norsunluukaiverrus — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• French: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• German: Scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Icelandic: beinskurður — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Italian: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Polish: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Portuguese: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Spanish: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Swedish: scrimshaw — manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
• Dutch: ivoor bewerken — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw
• Dutch: knutselen — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw
• Portuguese: entalhar — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw
• Portuguese: talhar — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw
• Russian: вырезать из раковины (vyrezatʹ iz rakoviny) — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw
• Russian: вырезать из слоновой кости (vyrezatʹ iz slonovoj kosti) — to make a handicraft of scrimshaw