scum

«scum» in Mova's school dictionary: A dirty layer that forms on top of a liquid, like on a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (scum — uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) A dirty layer that forms on top of a liquid, like on a pond or bath water. tree →

2) An insulting word for people thought to be very bad. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and everyday life, scum forms on a pond, on boiling water when cooking, or around the bath (soap scum). Pupils may notice scum in experiments when making things like soap. Phrases: soap scum, pond scum, skim off the scum.

examples

• There was green scum on the pond. tree →
• Skim the scum off the soup. tree →
• Soap scum makes the bath look dirty. tree →
• The scum floated on top of the water. tree →
• We cleaned the scum from the fish tank. tree →
• Do not drink water with scum on it. tree →
• I take them when they come in my way, but I do not hunt the Bandar-log, or frogs--or green scum on a water-hole, for that matter.” tree →

note

Uncountable: "some scum", not "a scum". Using "scum" about people is very rude; do not call people that. Safety: scum on a pond can mean the water is dirty or has harmful algae; keep pets and children out.

In the corpora

• Blue-green scum on a lake can be poisonous algae, so do not swim and keep dogs out.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «scum» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.