1821. The Etonian, ii. 391. Was sconced in a quart of ale for quoting Latin, a passage from Juvenal; murmured, and the fine was doubled.
1883. Ellacombe [N. & Q., 6 S., viii. 326]. Men were sconced if accidentally they appeared in hall undressed. I think the sconce was a quantity of beer to the scouts. The sconce-table was hung up in the buttery.
1899. Answers, 14 Jan., i. 1. The average freshman is not very long at Oxford before he is acquainted with the mysteries of sconcing. A sconce is a fine of a quart of ale, in which the unlucky fresher is mulcted for various offences in Hall.
Verb. (common).—4. To reduce; to discontinue: e.g., to sconce one's diet = to bant (q.v.): to sconce the reckoning = to reduce expenses.
5. (Winchester).—To hinder; to get in the way: as of a kick at football, a catch at cricket, &c.: e.g., "If you had not sconced, I should have made a flyer."
1899. Pub. School Mag., Dec., 476. Opponents who get in each others way and sconce the kicks.
Sconick, verb. (American).—To
hurry about; to shin about
(q.v.): also to sconick round.
1833. Neal, Down Easters, vii. 108. I could see plain enough which side you was on, without skonickin' round arter you much further.
Scoop, subs. (American).—1. A
big haul; an advantage: spec.
(journalists') news secured in advance
of a rival, a series of beats
(q.v.). Also (2) on 'Change, a
sudden breaking down of prices,
enabling operators to buy cheaply,
followed by a rise. As verb. =
(1) to make a big haul: and (2)
to get the better of a rival.
1882. McCabe, New York, 160. He runs seventy 'busses on this line, and scoops in three 'r four hundred a day.
1888. Detroit Free Press, 22 Sep. Mr. Terada, the editor, is in jail for fourteen months for getting a scoop on the government.
1889. Referee, 6 Jan. He is scooping in the shekels.
1890. Answers, 25 Dec. Last night he slept in his bed when we walked the streets. . . . To think that he should scoop us!
1896. Lillard Poker Stories, 26. As a rule he scooped the pot.
3. (common).—To fetch, to fit.
1888. Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described as 'goloptious."
Verb. (whalers').—1. See quot.
1891. Century Mag., s.v. Scooping. The right [whalebone] whale gets into a patch of food or brit (resembling sawdust on the surface of the water) . . . goes through it with only the head out and mouth open. As soon as a mouthful of water is obtained the whale closes its lips, ejects the water, the feed being left in the mouth and throat [Sailors' slang].
On the scoop, phr. (common).—On the drink, or a round of dissipation.
1893. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 47. An English milord on the scoop carn't be equalled at blueing a quid.
Scoot (Skoot or Skute), verb.
(common).—To move quickly;
on the scoot = on the run;
scooter = a restless knockabout;
scoot-train = an express.
1838. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sketches 'Pair of Slippers.' Notwithstanding his convulsive efforts to clutch the icy bricks, he skuted into the gutter.
18[?]. Hill, Yankee Stories [Bartlett]. The fellow sat down on a hornet's nest; and if he didn't run and holler, and scoot through the briar bushes, and tear his trowsers.
1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers. An send the Ensines skootin' to the bar-room with their banners.
1858. Atlantic Monthly, Mar. The captain he scooted round into one port an another.
