scalp
/skælp/
scalp noun: the top of the head; the skull.
Noun
scalp (plural scalps)
- The top of the head; the skull.
- Synonyms:
- skull
- The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from.
- By the bare scalpe of Robin Hoods fat Fryer, / This fellow were a King, for our wilde faction.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- The original titanium mesh plate that was inserted in the summer of 2010 was removed last June since it was causing his scalp to break down.2014, Kaitlin Newman, “Five years after beating, Ryan Diviney's family holds out hope”, in Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2014
- A part of the skin of the head, with the hair attached, formerly cut or torn off from an enemy by warriors in some cultures as a token of victory.
- Some tribes used to collect scalps to prove how many of the enemy they had killed in battle.
- They carried the dripping scalps of his companions, and one had skinned off Baptiste's black beard as well, for a trophy.1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 171
- The skin of the head of a stag, to which the horns are attached.
- He bears for Arms : Argent, on a chevron invected gules, between two bugle-horns sable, stringed of the second in chief, and the attires of a stag affixed to the scalp in base of the third, two fasces chevronways or.1899, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, Showing which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 313
- A victory, especially at the expense of someone else.
- [At the American State Convention in 1856 the Hon E. M. Yerger of Yazoo said that] he came up to the great council fire of his people, not like his friends Cobb, Hillyer and Brooke, with no scalps at his girdle that he had had a fight and a glorious victory.1856 January 25, “Editorial Correspondence”, in The Weekly American Banner, Yazoo City, Miss., page 3
- His mind is quick to perceive a weak place in the enemy's armor, as he glances over the exchanges, and when he "goes for" a solitary foe he always returns with the scalp hanging at his girdle.1872 August 9, Correspondence of the New York Times, “Nasby at Home”, in The Portland Daily Press, Portland, Me., page 1
- A bed or stratum of shellfish.
- Synonyms:
- scaup
- The top; the summit.
- the snowy scalp of Ben Cruachan1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- summit
Verb
scalp (third-person singular simple present scalps, present participle scalping, simple past and past participle scalped)
- To remove the scalp (part of the head from where the hair grows), by brutal act or accident.
- Next morning, the Indians attacked us and one of our hunters, George Huffman, was killed and scalped. As soon as Baldwin heard the shooting, he came to our assistance.2001, Peter Cozzens, Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890: Conquering the Southern Plains, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 507
- To resell, especially tickets, usually for an inflated price, often illegally.
- Tickets were being scalped for $300.
- Tickets sold online through Craigslist, eBay, and other forums, where the purchaser cannot physically see them, run a greater risk of being counterfeit—but counterfeiters have been known to scalp tickets in person outside the venue as well, […]2011, Linda E. Swayne, Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing, SAGE, →ISBN, page 324
- Synonyms:
- resell
- To bet on opposing competitors so as to make a profit from the bookmaker.
- The only sure thing about scalping the Series today is that the scalper is paying the bookie a greater profit because he is making a greater number of bets.1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling, page 102
- On an open outcry exchange trading floor, to buy and sell rapidly for one's own account, aiming to buy from a seller and a little later sell to a buyer, making a small profit from the difference (roughly the amount of the bid/offer spread, or less).
- To screen or sieve ore before further processing.
- scalped ore
- Synonyms:
- sieve
- To remove the skin of.
- We must […]"scalp" the whole lid [of the eye].1870, J. S. Wells, Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye
- To remove the grass from.
- To destroy the political influence of.
- To brush the hairs or fuzz from (wheat grains, etc.) in the process of high milling.
scalp meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu
scalp in Hindi
- स्काल्प
scalp in Tamil
- உச்சந்தலை
scalp in Bengali
- মাথার চামড়া
scalp in Telugu
- స్కాల్ప్, నెత్తి
More languagesFewer languages
- scalp in Malayalam
- തലയോട്ടി talayōṭṭi, ഓട്ടി ōṭṭi
- scalp in Kannada
- ನೆತ್ತಿಯ ಭಾಗದ ಚರ್ಮ, ತಲೆಯ ನೆತ್ತಿ
- scalp in Odia
- ସ୍କାଲ୍ପ, ମାଥାର ତ୍ବଚା, ସ୍କାଲ୍ପ୍
- scalp in Nepali
- स्क्याल्प
- scalp in Tagalog
- anit
- scalp in Arabic
- فَرْوَة اَلرَّأْس farwat ar-raʔs
- scalp in Thai
- หนังศีรษะ, หนังหัว
- scalp in Vietnamese
- da đầu
Examples of scalp in a sentence
- The most disturbing thing about Disneyland is seeing all those smiling people walking around wearing Mickey Mouse's severed scalp.2018 September 14, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, season 1, episode 6, spoken by Norm Macdonald:
- Pat Buchanan, in his ongoing presidential quest, claimed his first scalp, and Donald Wildmon's newsletter chortled that his efforts in opposing the NEA had paid off.1993, John Frohnmayer, Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior, page 331:
- Scalped tickets were going for $3,000 and up.2023 August 5, Ben Sisario, “How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Conquered the World”, in New York Times:
Synonyms of scalp
Forms of scalp
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | scalps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | scalps |
| present participle | scalping |
| past participle | scalped |
| past | scalped |
Origin of scalp
From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a North Germanic source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt North Frisian Skolp (“dandruff”), Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), Old Swedish skalp, Dutch schelp (“shell”).
Words formed from scalp
Phrases with scalp
Words that rhyme with scalp
Questions about scalp
- What does scalp mean?
- Scalp means the top of the head; the skull.
- What is scalp in Hindi?
- Scalp in Hindi is स्काल्प. See Scalp meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use scalp in a sentence?
- The most disturbing thing about Disneyland is seeing all those smiling people walking around wearing Mickey Mouse's severed scalp.
- What part of speech is scalp?
- Scalp can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce scalp?
- Scalp is pronounced /skælp/.
- What is the plural of scalp?
- The plural of scalp is scalps.
Words near scalp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scalp (page history and authors); scalp (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scalp (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scalp (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scalp (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scalp (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scalp (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scalp (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-scalp.ogg.
Cite this entry: “scalp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scalp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.