scruff n.
1. an unkempt, messy person; also a term of abuse.
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Scarperer (1966) 16: Shut your ignorant mouth, yous perishing scruff. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Complete Molesworth (1985) 377: Scram, scruff! Or I will do you! | |
| Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 154: He was in his Oxford Street scruff gear. | |
| Fixx 146: I pushed my way through a crowd of scruffs. | |
| (con. 1950s) Slab Boys [film script] 123: Anyhow, it’s a lot better than hangin’ aboot wi’ scruff! | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Glue 45: Thi’ll be like gold dust for they fuckin scruffs. | |
| Apples (2023) 206: Fairhurst done twelve [MDMA pills] in one night, fucking scruff. | |
| Killing Pool 60: The pallid, haggard-looking scruff is none other than former LFC idol Georgie bloody Smallwood. |
2. pornographic literature.
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 98 Oct. 25: scruff n. Pornography; muck. Also scruff-mag, scruffy literature. ‘Look what I’ve got,’ said William breathlessly as he emptied the contents of his jumper at the Outlaws’ feet. ‘It’s a load of scruff. Jumble found it under a hedge.’ (from ‘William’s Milk Race’, by Richmal Crompton). |
In compounds
1. a down-and-out.
| DSUE (8th edn) 1028/1: since ca. 1930. |
2. a messy, unkempt person (or animal, see cit. 1987).
 | Bazaar and Rummage 4: You’re usually such a scruff-bag. Of course, I know it’s de rigueur to dress à la bohemian at college but . . . | |
| (con. 1920s) Emerald Square 154: She was usually a very nervous bitch and my pugnacious little heart used to rage at the sight of her running before some little scruff-bag of a terrier, half her size. | |
| Guardian 24 Sept. 🌐 Even in his pinstripe suit, he is still a scruffbag. That’s always been part of his appeal. | |
| Ten Storey Love Song 124: He feels a bit of a scruffbag when he turns up to the gallery. |
3. attrib. use of sense 2.
| Guardian 24 Aug. 🌐 His campaign for Birds Eye featured two scruffbag Yorkshire brothers who liked to make pictures out of their food. |
a rough, tough individual.
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 86: This pack of Limeys would be scruff-hounds. |