scrimshaw

Meanings

Noun

• The manufacture of handicrafts by sailors on long voyages, especially as whittled from wood or bone.
• An item produced by scrimshaw.

Verb

• To make an item of scrimshaw.
• To engrave fanciful designs on (shells, whales' teeth, etc.).

Origin

• Unknown. The word and practice are attested since the 1820s in various spellings (including scrimsa, scrimsham, skimshander, skirmshander, skirmshandy, skrimshank, scrimshon, and skrimshonting), originally in reference to the manufacture of tools, and later art. Some references suggest that the term derives from scrimshank.