Word.ws English Dictionary

scrimshaw

Syllables: scrim·shaw/ˈskɹɪmʃɔː/US/ˈskɹɪmˌʃɔ/

scrimshaw verb: to create (a small ornamental handicraft also called a scrimshaw) by carving or engraving on bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials.

scrimshaw: to create (a small ornamental handicraft also called a scrimshaw) by carving or engraving on bone...
Image: Unknown artist Unknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

scrimshaw (third-person singular simple present scrimshaws, present participle scrimshawing, simple past and past participle scrimshawed)

  1. (transitive) To create (a small ornamental handicraft also called a scrimshaw) by carving or engraving on bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials.
  2. (transitive) To carve or engrave (bone, ivory, or other materials) with ornamental designs.
  3. (transitive) To carve or engrave (ornamental designs) on bone, ivory, or other materials.
  4. (intransitive) To make a handicraft of scrimshaw.

Noun

scrimshaw (countable and uncountable, plural scrimshaws)

  1. (also, attributive, countable) A small ornamental handicraft created by carving or engraving bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials, formerly produced by sailors on whaling ships to pass the time on long voyages.
    • Rooney got his skull exposed, doggone it
      Soon he's gonna get scrimshaw carved on it2008, Neil Cicierega, “Modify”, in View-Monster, performed by Lemon Demon
    Synonyms:
    scrimshander, scrimshandy
  2. (also, attributive, uncountable) The manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials, formerly by sailors on whaling ships to pass the time on long voyages.

Proper noun capitalized: Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw

  1. A surname.

scrimshaw meaning in Arabic

scrimshaw in Arabic

manufacture of small ornamental handicrafts by carving or engraving bone, ivory, or other materials
سكريمشا

Synonyms of scrimshaw

Forms of scrimshaw

Verb
third-person singular presentscrimshaws
present participlescrimshawing
past participlescrimshawed
pastscrimshawed
Noun
pluralscrimshaws

Origin of scrimshaw

The origin of the verb is unknown, but it has possibly been influenced by the surname Scrimshaw. Various etymologies have been proposed (for example, that it derives from scrimshank (“(Britain, military slang) to be idle, to shirk duty”)), but the Oxford English Dictionary does not consider any of them convincing. Following the surname theory, Etymonline ultimately derives the word probably from Old French escremisseor (“fencing-master”). The noun is probably derived from the verb.

Words formed from scrimshaw

Questions about scrimshaw

What does scrimshaw mean?
Scrimshaw means to create (a small ornamental handicraft also called a scrimshaw) by carving or engraving on bone (originally whalebone or whales' teeth), ivory, or other materials.
What is scrimshaw in Arabic?
Scrimshaw in Arabic is سكريمشا. See Scrimshaw meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is scrimshaw?
Scrimshaw can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce scrimshaw?
Scrimshaw is pronounced /ˈskɹɪmʃɔː/ (UK).
What is the past tense of scrimshaw?
The past tense of scrimshaw is scrimshawed.

Words near scrimshaw in the dictionary

  1. scrimshanked
  2. scrimshanker
  3. scrimshankers
  4. scrimshanking
  5. scrimshanks
  6. scrimshaw
  7. scrimshawed
  8. scrimshawer
  9. scrimshawers
  10. scrimshawing
  11. scrimshaws

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scrimshaw (page history and authors); Scrimshaw (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-scrimshaw.wav.

Cite this entry: “scrimshaw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scrimshaw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.