13 March 2014

scud

scud (1)

[skuhd]

verb (used without object), scud·ded, scud·ding.

1. to run or move quickly or hurriedly. ‘Best scud along’
2. Nautical . to run before a gale with little or no sail set.
3. Archery. (of an arrow) to fly too high and wide of the mark.

noun
4. the act of scudding.
5. clouds, spray, or mist driven by the wind; a driving shower or gust of wind. ‘clouds scud by’.
6. low-drifting clouds appearing beneath a cloud from which precipitation is falling.

Origin:
1525–35; Middle Low German – schudden to shake

scud (2)

[skuhd]

verb (used with object), scud·ded, scud·ding.
1. to cleanse (a trimmed and roughly depilated skin or hide) of remaining hairs or dirt.
noun
2. the hairs or dirt removed by scudding.

Origin:
1635–45; perhaps to be identified with obsolete scud dirt

Scud could be the possible origin of the word ‘skeddadle’, meaning to leave somewhere in a hurry.

Anagram

cuds

Today’s aphorism

To be able to look back upon one’s past life with satisfaction is to live twice.

– Lord Acton

On this day

13 March 1929 – The Butler Act is passed, making it illegal to teach the theory of evolution in schools in Tennessee. The Act was repealed in 1967.

13 March 1969 – Disney releases the hit movie, The Love Bug, based on a Volkswagen Beetle with a life of its own.

13 March 1979 – a left-wing military coup in Grenada overthrows Prime Minister, Sir Eric Gairy. His leadership was controversial with allegations of illegitimately winning the election, rigging a Miss World contest and calling for the United Nations to establish a committee to investigate UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

13 March 1996 – Sixteen children at the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland are shot dead by former boy scout leader, Thomas Hamilton. The massacre resulted in stricter gun laws in the United Kingdom.