scurvy

adj

1. (obsolete)Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun sense 1).

   “Some wenches come vnlased, / Some hyswyues come vnbrased, / Wyth theyr naked pappes, / That flappes and flappes; / […] / A sorte of foule drabbes / All scuruy with scabbes: […]”

   “The bran of VVheate boiled in ſharpe vineger, and rubbed vpon them that be ſcuruie and mangie, easeth the partie very much.”

   “This medicine is vvell approued to cure all ſorts of Paine, Scratches, Moully heeles, or any other skiruy ſcalls vvhatſoeuer, that may breede in a horſes leg or heeles, […]”

   “Whoſoeuer he be of thy ſeed in their generations, that hath any blemiſh, let him not approche to offer the bread of his God: […] [he] that hath a blemiſh in his eye, or be ſcuruy, or ſcabbed, […]”

2. (broadly, obsolete)Of growths on plants: resembling scurf; scurfy.
3. (archaic, figuratively)Of a person or thing: disgustingly mean; contemptible, despicable, low.

   “a scurvy knave    a scurvy trick”

   “Iſt not a ſcuruie ieſt, that a man ſhould ieſt himſelfe to death.”

   “The Moore's abus'd by ſome outragious knaue: / Some baſe notorious knaue, some ſcuruy fellovv, […]”

   “VVhat a py'd Ninnie's this? Thou ſcuruy patch: / I do beſeech thy Greatneſſe giue him blovves, […]”

   “Hovv ſcuruy provvd he vvould looke, vvhen the Treaſury vvas full: / VVell, let him goe: […]”

4. (archaic, figuratively)Of the way someone is treated: poor, shabby.

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)A disease caused by insufficient intake of vitamin C, leading to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, loosening of the teeth, and bleeding into the skin and from almost all mucous membranes; (countable, obsolete) an occurrence of this disease.

   “Our legs now vs deceiue, / ſwolne euery ioint withall, / With this diſeaſe, which, by your leaue, / the Scuruie men doe call.”

   “[H]ee will go to the ſea, and teare the gold out of the Spaniards throats but he will haue it, byrlady when he comes there, poore ſoule hee lyes in brine in Baliſt, and is lamentable ſicke of the ſcuruies; […]”

   “[W]hich excellent plant [scurvy-grass], Cæſars ſoldiers […] found to preuaile […] againſt that plague and hurtfull diſeaſe of the teeth, gums, and ſinevves, called the Scuruie, being a depriuation of all good bloode and moiſture, in the vvhole bodie, called Scorbutum; in Engliſh the Scuruie, and Skyrbie: […]”

   “[N]ovv vve have looſed the plough in the fields, they'l find vvork enough about home to keep us from the ſcurvey.”

   “The Scurvies is the Mother and Nurſery of all Diſeaſes: and upon taking old, or any diſorder of Body, they branch out one Diſtemper or other, and yet the grand cauſe, vvhich is the Scurvies, remains all in one Body.”

2. (countable, derogatory, figuratively, usually)A contemptible or despicable person.

   “Row, row you scurvies, / She'll have us boiled in oil. / Move, move those creaking oars, / until you reach Cape soil.”

   “Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Avast! There be no treasure on this island, just a bunch of googly-eyed, synthetic scurvies staging a bastardized retelling of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson adventure.”

   “Her friends kept writing her warning her that the man market was not that fortuitous, and filled [with] wormies, and scurvies, unctuous bedfellows that would make her chin jut out— […]”

3. (broadly, obsolete, uncountable, usually)A cattle disease, perhaps affecting the skin.