scrannel

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scrannel (dial.) lean, thin. XVII ( Milton ‘Lycidas’ 124 s. pipes, from which subsequent users of the word have inferred the meaning ‘harsh, unmelodious’). Obscurely rel. to synon. dial. scrank, Sc. scranky, scranny; all prob. ult. of Scand. orig. (cf. Norw. skran shrivelled, skrank lean large-boned figure).

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