scraugh

Noun

scraugh (countable and uncountable, plural scraughs)

1. (Scotland, countable) A screech.
   • Allan Ravenswood, that was then master, wi' a bended pistol in his hand, - it was a mercy it gaed na aff, -- crying to me, that had scarce as much wind left as serve the necessary purpose of my ain lungs, 'Sound, you poltron! sound, you damned cowardly villain or I will blow your brains out !” and...1819, Sir Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor
   • The old woman o'er the way To our cheer a scraugh gave back ;1867, John Wilson, The Works - Volume 1, page 198
2. (Ireland, uncountable) Sod.
   • The sod, or scraugh, which had been used to cover the mouth of the vessel, and prevent the bones which it contained from falling out, still held together.1855, Kilkenny Archaeological Society, Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society
   • I also have the scraugh I took from the field behind the house, and every time I looks at it I thinks of the poor ould home.1881, David Power Conyngham, The O'Donnells of Glen Cottage: A Tale of the Famine Years in Ireland