scutch

noun /skʌt͡ʃ/

1. A wooden implement shaped like a large knife used to separate the valuable fibres of flax or hemp by beating them and scraping from it the woody or coarse portions.

   countable

2. The woody fibre of flax or hemp; the refuse of scutched flax or hemp.

   uncountable

   the labourers went peacefully about their usual employments, some driving teams of ponderous horses at the plough, others burning scutch and brambles, the rubbish of field and forest.

3. A bricklayer's small picklike tool with two cutting edges (or prongs) for dressing stone or cutting and trimming bricks.

   countable

Where it comes from

From Middle English *scucchen, from Anglo-Norman escucher, from Vulgar Latin *excuticāre.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry scutch (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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