|
In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
|
SCUM, n.
1. The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquors in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means. The word is also applied to the scoria of metals.
2. The refuse; the recrement; that which is vile or worthless.
The great and the innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people.
The extraneous matter or impurities which
rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which
form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a
molten state; dross.
Some to remove the scum as it did rise. Spenser. refuse; recrement; anything vile or
worthless.
The great and innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people. Addison. To take the scum from]
to clear off the impure matter from the surface of; to skim.
You that scum the molten lead. Dryden *** Lee. To sweep or range over the surface
of.
[Obs.]
Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates. Milton. To form a scum] to
become covered with scum. Also used figuratively.
Life, and the interest of life, have stagnated and scummed over. A. K. H. Boyd. | ||||||||