Scumble
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An opaque kind of glaze (layer of paint). countable, uncountable
- 2 the application of very thin coat of color over the surface of a picture wordnet
- 1 To apply an opaque glaze to an area of a painting to make it softer or duller.
"manure [...] dead leaves [...] and the odd unstomachable meal thrown or vomited there by this or that sensitive epicurean—all got scumbled together, eventually, by the knives of the seasons, to an impasto, feet thick, of unbelievable topsoil in which anything could grow"
- 2 To apply a painted pattern to the finish of a piece of furniture to simulate the woodgrain of another timber, as for example to give pine an appearance of oak.
"scumbled pine"
Example
More examples"manure [...] dead leaves [...] and the odd unstomachable meal thrown or vomited there by this or that sensitive epicurean—all got scumbled together, eventually, by the knives of the seasons, to an impasto, feet thick, of unbelievable topsoil in which anything could grow"
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps from scum with frequentative -le.
More for "scumble"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.