scab Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
    strikebreaker; rat; blackleg.
  2. noun the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion
  3. verb form a scab
    • the wounds will eventually scab
  4. verb take the place of work of someone on strike
    fink; rat; blackleg.

WordNet

Scab noun
Etymology
OE. scab, scabbe, shabbe; cf. AS. scæb, sceabb, scebb, Dan. & Sw. skab, and also L. scabies, tr. scabere to scratch, akin to E. shave. See Shave, and cf. Shab, Shabby.
Definitions
  1. An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed by the drying up of the discharge from the diseased part.
  2. The itch in man; also, the scurvy. Colloq. or Obs.
  3. The mange, esp. when it appears on sheep. Chaucer.
  4. A disease of potatoes producing pits in their surface, caused by a minute fungus (Tiburcinia Scabies).
  5. (Founding) A slight iregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
  6. A mean, dirty, paltry fellow. Low Shak.
  7. A nickname for a workman who engages for lower wages than are fixed by the trades unions; also, for one who takes the place of a workman on a strike. Cant
Scab intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Scabbed ; present participle & verbal noun Scabbing
Definitions
  1. To become covered with a scab; as, the wound scabbed over. 2. To take the place of a striking worker.

Webster 1913