scalp

From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a Scandinavian source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt North Frisian Skolp (“dandruff”),Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), Old Swedish skalp, Middle Dutch schelpe (“shell”).

• IPA^(key): /skælp/

• Audio (US)

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scalp (plural scalps)

1. (now dialectal) The top of the head; the skull.

   Synonym: skull

2. The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona

     By the bare scalpe of Robin Hoods fat Fryer, / This fellow were a King, for our wilde faction.

   • 2014, Kaitlin Newman in Baltimore Sun, Five years after beating, Ryan Diviney’s family holds out hope

     The original titanium mesh plate that was inserted in the summer of 2010 was removed last June since it was causing his scalp to break down.

3. (historical) A part of the skin of the head, with the hair attached, formerly cut or torn off from an enemy by warriors in some cultures as a token of victory.

   Some tribes used to collect scalps to prove how many of the enemy they had killed in battle.

4. (heraldry) The skin of the head of a stag with the horns attached.
5. (figuratively) A victory, especially at the expense of someone else.
   • 1993, John Frohnmayer, Leaving Town Alive: Confessions of an Arts Warrior, page 331:

     Pat Buchanan, in his ongoing presidential quest, claimed his first scalp, and Donald Wildmon's newsletter chortled that his efforts in opposing the NEA had paid off.

6. (Scotland) A bed or stratum of shellfish.

   Synonym: scaup

7. (figuratively) The top; the summit.

   Synonym: summit

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Macaulay to this entry?)

• scalpless
• scalpy

scalp (third-person singular simple present scalps, present participle scalping, simple past and past participle scalped)

1. To remove the scalp (part of the head from where the hair grows), by brutal act or accident.
   • 2001, Peter Cozzens, Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890: Conquering the Southern Plains, Stackpole Books (→ISBN), page 507:

     Next morning, the Indians attacked us and one of our hunters, George Huffman, was killed and scalped. As soon as Baldwin heard the shooting, he came to our assistance.

2. (Canada, US, slang) To resell, especially tickets, usually for an inflated price, often illegally.

   Synonym: resell

   Tickets were being scalped for $300.

   • 2011, Linda E. Swayne, Encyclopedia of Sports Management and Marketing, SAGE (→ISBN), page 324:

     Tickets sold online through Craigslist, eBay, and other forums, where the purchaser cannot physically see them, run a greater risk of being counterfeit—but counterfeiters have been known to scalp tickets in person outside the venue as well, […]

3. To screen or sieve ore before further processing

   Synonym: sieve

   scalped ore

4. (surgery) To remove the skin of.
   • J. S. Wells

     We must scalp the whole lid [of the eye].

5. (transitive) To remove the grass from.
6. (transitive) To destroy the political influence of.
7. (milling) To brush the hairs or fuzz from (wheat grains, etc.) in the process of high milling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

• calps, claps, clasp

Borrowed from English scalp.

• IPA^(key): /skɑlp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: skalp

scalp m (plural scalpen or scalps)

1. scalp (hair-covered skin, especially as a trophy)

• scalperen