How To Use Scruff In A Sentence

Not that he is preening: he is careless about his blond good looks, a scruffy hipster beard giving maturity to his rather angelic face. Times, Sunday Times
We were lectured by numerous academic doctors, usually wearing scruffy sports jackets or ill-fitting white coats. Times, Sunday Times
A woman is approached in the street by a scruffily dressed youth who opens his mouth - and asks for directions to the local mosque.
While in the daytime it looked just kept enough to be scruffy, the thick cool of the night hid its dinginess and transformed it into something almost beautiful.
The Dodgers were “dem Bums,” the “daffiness boys,” the unpretentious clowns, whose fans were seen as scruffy bluecollar workers who spoke with bad diction. Wait Till Next Year

Ethan Hawke rubbed the scruff on his chin and leaned forward in his chair for emphasis.
Next, a scruffy-looking student enthusiastically volunteered to lace him into a straightjacket and secure him with padlocks and chains.
There is a man, approximately my age, attractive in a scruffy, academic sort of way brown corduroy jacket, one of those narrow, stripey, many-coloured scarves that men are wearing this season coiled around his neck, tufty brown hair, sitting across the aisle to my right on a strapontin. Power, corruption and lies
His hair is unkempt and his clothes scruffy; his eyes are red and he seems permanently on the point of tears. Times, Sunday Times
I finished work today, go to pick the car up and lo and behold some scruffy twoccers have smashed the window, nicked the stereo which is no good because I kept the face with me and completely ripped all the ignition out.
Both girls had over-the-top suntans, scruffy blonde hair, and very long legs in extremely tight jeans.
No one likes a scruff. The Sun
He's got more cheekbone than Snoop, bloodshot and rheumy eyes, and he's wearing a scruffy black overcoat and woolly hat.
Its runways made a distinctive pattern, a slanting cross, as if some one had slammed a rubber stamp on the scruffy countryside.
As Alfonso Cuaron took Hogwarts by the scruff of the neck and transformed Prisoner of Azkaban into a film worthy of its medium and not just its source, so Mike Newell takes the series one step further.
Maybe toffs aren't offensive as long as they're scruffy?
He had a scruffy old teddy bear which went by the name of Augustus.
Consider, in this light, ‘to neck someone out of the room’ which is supposed to mean, ‘taking somebody by the scruff of the neck and ejecting from the company.’
The scruffy ex-student had been the final auditionee accepted on to the next stage of the show.
Joining them is Hallyday, who plays a higher-ranking mobster and their minder, and Renaud, a scruffy, dangerous criminal known only as ‘Zero.’
Then all these scruffy layabouts who had nothing better to do with their time than try to prevent law-abiding country folk from tearing foxes apart could be arrested and prosecuted.
The crisp new outfit is in contrast to Mercy's scruffy orphanage clothes. The Sun
Bilko's motor-pool privates were scruffy, lazy, unattractive slobs who liked to do as little work as possible, never paraded and were almost fearful of weaponry.
The general consensus is that he is too negative, unable or unwilling to grab games by the scruff of the neck. Times, Sunday Times
Cats should not be picked up by the scruff of the neck; instead, support the cats hindquarters in one hand and use the other to support its chest.
His scruffy appearance made him look dirty next to the clean bright sterile walls of the hospital.
Were you surprised to see those drunk scruffy bastards start moshing?
Down La Canebière I stroll, heading for the glinting, faraway turquoise eyespot of the Old Port, following women dressed in ankle-length raincoats and Islamic head scarves, long-faced men in frayed djellabas and knit skullcaps, gangly youths with scruffy beards. Sunstroked
Her graceful neck rises higher than the trees, like a giraffe in slow motion, her liquid eyes staring curiously, then dismissively, at the gaping humans; she returns to her grazing as if these late-model mammals were no more worthy of note than their scruffy shrewlike ancestors, with whom she shared the Earth 130 million years ago. Here Come The Dnasaurs
He's young, stubbly and scruffy, a slouchy cool that makes one think that Kate must be cool and edgy, too. 'Kate-alikes': Would-be princesses find a new muse in Kate Middleton
Say there's a scruffy old fragment of woodland down the road from you. Times, Sunday Times
The city swarms with scruffily dressed and, largely, scruffily mannered young people.
The powerhouse who used to grip games by the scruff of the neck was a pale shadow yesterday. The Sun
The image of beer belly, scruffy jeans and T-shirt is vanishing as one in eight delivery drivers dons a shirt and tie for work. The Sun
He is scruffy, self-effacing and funny and conjures up all of these attributes in his perennially popular excursions to far-flung corners of the globe.
She wants him to stop looking like such a mangy scruffbag.
He looked slightly scruffier than usual, his hair untidy, a battered, shapeless leather jacket over jeans with holes at both knees. AN OLDER WOMAN
Francona, who could have taken a conservative stance against his players' scraggly hair and scruffy beards, instead embraced his team's approach.
Tangent comment.... does R.Orci the guy on the left in the photo look like a scruffy, greyheaded Lt. Data? Kurtzman and Orci Talk About The Future of Star Trek | /Film
Perched awkwardly atop each tree was a scruffy but huge Californian condor.
Hamilton seemed to be finally persuaded of the merits of taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
Plus, any band who produce We Care A Lot, a brutally fun hymn for the apathy generation is bound to grab any world-weary fifteen year old by the scruff of the neck.
When Cocky, balanced on one leg, the other leg in the air as the foot of it held the scruff of Michael's neck, leaned to Michael's ear and wheedled, Michael could only lay down silkily the bristly hair-waves of his neck, and with silly half-idiotic eyes of bliss agree to whatever was Cocky's will or whimsey so delivered. CHAPTER XI
Certain parts of Bolton are dirty and scruffy, caused by a minority of dirty people and neglect.
The male is described as of thin build, slim features, 6ft, short brown hair, early 30s, wearing a long, black scruffy coat.
Photographs show him wearing the scruffy T-shirt and jeans that were the student's uniform of the time.
If you're dressed scruffily, the chances of wangling your way into business class are slim. The Sun
The accomplice who sneaked in is believed to be around 30 and scruffily dressed.
Dubliners Dead Cat Bounce are a case in point: a first-class comedy band that have it in them to be Ireland's even scruffier answer to Flight Of The Conchords. This week's new comedy
I threw some scruffy old clothes into the skip outside my house recently. Times, Sunday Times
This is the type of album that grabs you by the scruff of the neck, shakes you about a lot, and never once lets up on the fury which drives it.
Especially since Jill was an eyeful and I was just your average scruffy male.
I took in his wrinkled apparel, his smudged face, and the scruff on his chin and cheeks from several days without grooming.
He had scruffy ginger-colored hair, at least one of his knees or elbows was scraped at pretty much any given time, and he'd once popped a wheelie on his bicycle while Bridget watched.
The clothes they'd purchased were scruffy, torn, and slightly odiferous.
The owner had been taught to grab it by the scruff of the neck. FRIENDS FOR LIFE
His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.
Waving Iranian flags and pictures of Ahmadinejad, the crowd crushed into the restraining bars, some of them shedding tears at the presence of their scruffily bearded hero. Let the Swords Encircle Me
She rehearses and plays gigs with her band in scruffy rehearsal studios and sleazy bars in New York City. Desperately Seeking | The Stiletto Gang
Well, there's no reef at El Gouna itself, so each morning would-be divers climb into a minibus and head off down a dusty unmade road to a small scruffy dock where Dive Tribe's day-boats await.
Anyhow, he's in the trap, and can't get out till he's hed my claws roun 'the scruff o' his neck an 'my thumb on his thropple. The Lone Ranche
They all looked disheveled with dirty clothing and most of them had scruffy beards and scraggly hair.
We have moved into a cosy tack room where a homemade cake is on a scruffy wooden kitchen table and dogs whine for attention. Times, Sunday Times
Stephanie wore black trousers, a pair of DMs, a long-sleeved T-shirt -- a burgundy body with orange sleeves -- and a scruffy black jacket. CHAMELEON
She was dressed as scruffily as when I'd seen her last-but no hat or coat today. NIGHT SISTERS
I can't do anything about my floppy face - it always looks dirty and scruffy. The Sun
Amid a scruffy sprawl of warehouses and marinas, on a former brownfield site in Tacoma, Washington, sits the sparkling new Museum of Glass.
If you show up in scruffy jeans and a T-shirt they won't kick you out, but, if you are the kind to feel self-conscious, you may feel like you've crashed the wrong party.
I like the idea of a cute but scruffy dog. Times, Sunday Times
His hair is unkempt and his clothes scruffy; his eyes are red and he seems permanently on the point of tears. Times, Sunday Times
Bit scruffy and mangy himself, but blessed with a true heart of gold.
There may well be kids growing up in scruffy homes because of poverty, or the ill health of a parent, but those kids may well be loved and happier than other kids who have well off parents. Perverting The Course Of Everything « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
I took/grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him out of the hall.
The truth is, Jonathan Franzen is on the cover of Time because he wrote The Corrections, not, despite what some want to think, because he's scruffily handsome and could be a model for J. Peterman. Melanie Benjamin: How to Dress an Author
I'm not particularly fond of your brand of scruffiness either.
Photographs show him wearing the scruffy T-shirt and jeans that were the student's uniform of the time.
He has wide eyes and a scruffy beard, speaking with a voice that fills the room. Times, Sunday Times
But he has long, wavy hair and a scruffy red goatee that was so long he had to fold it underneath his chinstrap.
They would never come in scruffy, they were very grand and en route to marrying very well - the gossip was wonderful.
I feel a bit of a scruff in my jeans.
Imagine it - scruffy shoeshiners and grungy postcard sellers getting the chance to enjoy what so many of us take for granted.
The people I have known have been a scruffy lot, a ragtag of mongrels from all over the place, but I would not change them for the world.
The old town around the splendid natural harbour is picturesque enough in a scruffy way. THE EARTH: An Intimate History
It was the scruffiest place I've ever stayed in, so 'Hotel Royal' was a bit of a misnomer.
Wow, what's with the scruffy old mountain man?
A scruffy little kid aged between 12 and 14 came in and tried to steal the charity box from the counter.
Just as scruffy lobbies are a thing of the past in posh developments, so too are old-style concierges.
It's all about contrasts and contradictions - the smart and the scruffy, the rough and the smooth.
‘Simple semantics may help quell patients' fears that they will be seen by a scruffy, disinterested youth who may well later report their intimacies in the bar,’ he writes.
But after the lava scene, a scruffy dark-haired caveman appears, wrestling with a warthog. The Memory Palace
The cat picked up the kitten by the scruff of its neck.
Some spruce up scruffy gardens while owners are out. The Sun
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was recently awarded a Best Actor BAFTA for his portrayal of a half-blind, malformed scruffy, deluded fantasist who believes himself to be a world statesman - a performance described by the academy as 'on a par with Olivier's Richard III'. Mandelson Nominated for BAFTA
The cub became calmer when he was held by the scruff, which is the way mom Bai Yun carries him. Fore, right!
But by carefully cultivating the small growing space available at his home on what he describes as a "scruffy" London terrace, he is "having fun" and "eating some great food. Homegrown Pleasures, No Lectures
Remember before the Microsoft era, back when the archetype of the computer engineer was not that of a laid-back, semi-cool, scruffy geek but that of a strait-laced, uptight, button-down IBM company man with a company haircut? Gene and the Machine: The shocking truth about the electric Volt
He's an overweight scruffy herbert with more than a passing resemblance to Captain Caveman.
Stout and scruffy, the 36-year-old Daniels looks more suited to a football field than La Fenice, but as a countertenor, the highest male voice in opera, he sings in a falsetto.
Yet they possess a rare spirit which allows them to grasp life by the scruff of its neck and cope with whatever it throws in the face.
When I lived near there a few years ago, the corner was like a souvenir of West Berlin's improvisatory spirit, and I could imagine it extending into some indefinite future, with its slightly scruffy, but unmistakable vitality intact. Kreuzberg Bellyaches Over Kebab Tourism
Turns out he's this aging hippy with stringy hair and a scruffy face.
Well, see, this story won't be going up for download, I'm afraid, as it's a pressie and all, but I'll be including new donors up till Hogmanay, so if yer donates for the current story, "An Alfabetcha of Scruffian Names," yer gets "A Scruffian Christmas" alongs with it yeah? Archive 2009-12-01
He came in, a scruffy, even shabby figure in old blazer and grey shorts. COFFIN ON THE WATER
The punters don't seem to mind the scruffiness.
I wore it to some rather posh restaurants and not once did I feel scruffy or unkempt.
LONDON (AP) - A British woman caught on tape stroking a cat, picking it up by the scruff of its neck and casually throwing it into its owners 'trash bin pleaded guilty to a single charge of animal cruelty Tuesday. Mary Bale, UK Woman Who Dumped Cat In Trash, Pleads Guilty To Animal Cruelty (VIDEO)
He had scruffy short, possibly cropped, brown hair with sideburns running down past his ears.
But there was little sense of any acts, or group of acts, collectively seizing 2004 by the scruff of its neck - as the brilliant Garry Mulholland points out in this issue in our definitive review of 2004.
I am trying to think myself into a really rather complicated argument, and still at the stage where you take the old machine apart, and the whole workshop is a mess of bits and scruff.
He's dressed in scruffy jeans and a faded biker jacket, talking in quiet, understated tones.
Her boyfirned is lookin scruffy but who cares who all do now and then lol. Pink is the New Blog | Everybody's Business Is My Business » Blog Archive » Britney Spears & Jason Trawick Sneak Off To Santa Barbara, CA
It's telling that the most talked-about businessman in the world right now isn't Warren Buffett or Bill Gates—it's Mark Zuckerberg, a 26-year-old, scruffily dressed Jewish kid who started a cultural revolution in his dorm room and inspired a movie that just may win the Oscar for best picture. Two Cheers for the Maligned Slacker Dude
-- And then sticking a card between my stock and my coat-collar, in what is called the scruff of my neck, the disgusting brute gave me another blow behind my back, and left the coffee-room with his friends. The Fatal Boots
It was a scruffy old game. Times, Sunday Times
He'll be a bit tidier, you'll be a bit scruffier. Who Do You Say I Am
It was a fine demonstration that taking a car by the scruff of the neck doesn't have to mean ten minutes of lurching, understeer and oversteer.
She didn't resist when Xienna grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and propelled her out of the dormitory at high speed, but part of her screamed at her for not finishing the boy.
Having arrived at 9am from Aberdeen, the pair were clad more as mad hatters tea party than scruffy gig chic.
He and his scruffy band of followers held that life should be conducted in accordance with nature to the point of performing bodily functions in public like dogs hence the term cynic, from the Greek word for dog. Alexander the Great
JAKE SULLY a scarred and scruffy combat vet sitting in a beat up carbon - fiber wheelchair.
He had shaggy brown hair and a little scruff on his face that looked as if he had slacked a little on shaving for the summer.
I like the idea of a cute but scruffy dog. Times, Sunday Times
Meursault is repulsed by Raymond's scruffy appearance.
As a music journalist in scruffy digs by Victoria station he was asked by an American producer to suggest some local bands to supply soundtrack music for a movie.
In scruffy streets great voices echo. Times, Sunday Times
` Scruff 'Mackenzie's two years had taught him the not many hundred words of their vocabulary, and he had likewise conquered their deep gutturals, their Japanese idioms, constructions, and honorific and agglutinative particles. The Sun of the Wolf
She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him out.
The neat, middle-class enclaves of Edinburgh or Leeds, with their almost wholly middle-class streets and playgrounds, offer a different life from scruffier, moresocially mixed but increasingly gentrified Hackney or Lambeth. Is the British middle class an endangered species?
Scruffy and fluffy, these tawny frogmouth chicks are part of six hatched in 2008 and 2009 through a cooperative program of SeaWorld and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. ZooBorns
In one corner, a scruffy individual was toasting a flat loaf over an open brazier. THE LONELY SEA
I mentioned the picture thing because of him, with his scruffiness.
She was plumpish with lank hair and a pasty complexion, not very clean, scruffily dressed - very unappetising, I thought.
It is a plain, undolled-up place, with vast puddles and scruffy hats and tack piled up in a Portakabin, and not a caffe latte in sight. Horse riding in Ashdown Forest
Now seven months old, Sam is a very healthy and robust dog, showing that even the most scruffy and mangy animal can be reclaimed and rehabilitated.
His face looks rugged, hair out of place, and his once-scruffy face now sports a full beard.
He's dressed in scruffy jeans and a faded biker jacket, talking in quiet, understated tones.
We moved close to an extremely scruffy exotic food mart where birds flew around helping themselves to the bulk bins of bulgur and excreting onto the green peppers.
He peers out from under his scruffy, unkempt hair with a slackjawed, apprehensive expression.
Despite her scruffy clothes, there was an air of sophistication about her.
The weather started out grey and chill but has warmed steadily until, today, I resorted to wearing a pair of scruffy old shorts around the house and garden.
He has dark hair and the slight scruff of a five o'clock shadow on his face.
Whole Wide World is one of the first songs a bunch of scruffy young teenage no-marks ever played in public, down in Lower Salthill.
Scruffmcgruff dude diddy's face on that picture is one of the more terrifying looks i've ever witnessed. bring this flick on. also, the plot synopsis decribing aldous as "walking sex. Get Him to the Greek: One Week Earlier | /Film
I like the idea of a cute but scruffy dog. Times, Sunday Times
This album grabs you by the scruff of the neck and demands your attention.
But barely a tenth think the country now has the wherewithal to grab the opportunity by the scruff of its neck. Times, Sunday Times
His model aircraft were usually scruffy constructions of paper and balsa wood and far from aerodynamically efficient.
Some spruce up scruffy gardens while owners are out. The Sun
I like the idea of a cute but scruffy dog. Times, Sunday Times
A scruffy soldier takes the stage, hired to appear by the oleaginous host.
The gunman was described as scruffy-looking and fled on foot after the attack, possibly with another man, he said. Latest News - Yahoo!7 News
I grabbed the little boy by the scruff of the neck and bundled him out of the classroom.
It just caught me by the scruff of the neck and practically hammered my guts out.
According to US State Department officials the man, who was scruffily-dressed and appeared to have psychological problems, was intercepted by Secret Service Agents while trying to climb into the White House through the window to the Lincoln Bedroom. British Vagrant Arrested in White House
Laden with a mismatched stack of old leather-bound books, the pretty coed rounded an aisle and nearly collided with a scruffy looking male.
The whole head is fluffed up and gently back-combed, so that it looks scruffy and unkempt.
One had blond hair and was scruffy, with a blue top and jeans, while the other wore a dark blue top.
In reality we are looking at a bare stage, and the diva is a scruffy young man who minutes before was six other characters. Times, Sunday Times
The orchestral introduction grips us by the scruff of the neck in the venom with which it makes hunting and stalking aurally incarnate.
Though Anthony had a scruffy look, with his unshaved face, he also had a twinkle in his eyes that made almost everyone who knew him think twice on pulling a prank on him.
Steve did not hear what Watty's "mither" had said, for the cook made a rush at him, caught him by the scruff of the neck, and ran him into the galley, closely followed by Skene-dhu, the dog, snapping and barking at their heels in a way which hastened Watty's pace and stopped all resistance. Steve Young
His face was scruffy, as if he hadn't shaved in days.
The strange thing is, after the exam incident, I turned into this lazy, scruffy headcase.
If yer can draw, why, an home-made virtual Christmas card, on a Scruffians theme, like -- that'd be peachy. A Scruffian Christmas
Eyes bursting open, she saw an unshaven, scruffy face.
Bong Ra's ‘Archie Bunker Disciples’ takes The Prodigy's ‘Firestarter’ by the scruff of the neck and feeds it into several hundred distortion pedals.
He had discoloured teeth and was wearing a scruffy tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows and a hand-knitted grey waistcoat. A NASTY DOSE OF DEATH
It has the appealing scruffy buzz of a university town, but there is no university, and hence no students puking into traffic cones.
In reply to this characterization of contemporary Nashville country music, a major commercial country promoter says that the scruffy alternative artists just don't have the talent or the drive to make it in commercial country music.
The rakish wavy hair, facial scruff rock them, the well-groomed should not. Second Skin
Uncle Sam is portrayed as scruffy, mean and bitter.
If the jeans were baggy and scruffy, the whole outfit would be unbalanced.
They all looked disheveled with dirty clothing and most of them had scruffy beards and scraggly hair.
Her grin clearly frightened the leopard, as well as a pinch she gave him in the 'scruff' of the neck with one of her hands, while with the other she caught hold of his tail and made him yell. Heads and Tales : or, Anecdotes and Stories of Quadrupeds and Other Beasts, Chiefly Connected with Incidents in the Histories of More or Less Distinguished Men.
A scruffy beard covered his face, making him look older than he was.
For most of the journey I pretended to sleep, feeling the accusatory stares of passers-by, ready to grab me by the scruff of the neck and spontaneously demand a ticket inspection.
You can't go to a job interview looking so scruffy!
A projection screen flickers into life and Hope Of The States shamble onstage in that endearingly scruffy way that seems rather at odds with their borderline-highbrow music.
On Friday morning they gathered on a scruffy beach in Libreville, sang and laid flowers in the water for their compatriots who had died in 1993, shortly after taking off from the Gabonese capital for a World Cup qualifier in Senegal. Zambia 0-0 Ivory Coast (7-8 on pens) | Africa Cup of Nations final report
But are scruffiness and Slipknot t-shirts not just an integral part of being a techie?
It depicts the kalanoro, a "short, three-toed, bipedal, water-dwelling, mean, scruffy-hair hominoid" apparently known to tribes in Madagascar. Boing Boing
The powerhouse who used to grip games by the scruff of the neck was a pale shadow yesterday. The Sun
In any case, in the past his scruffed-up skronk did a lot to reconcile the band's affable garage-pop jangle with lyrics about, say, killing cops. Chicago Reader
They grab the game by the scruff of the neck, choke their opponents. Times, Sunday Times
Born in 1912, Turing was a shy, scruffy young man, but a gifted mathematician and scientist.
RSPCA spokeswoman Kylie Hughes said while its not necessarily cruel to "scruff" a cat, ideally Kardashian should have been supporting its bodyweight two-handed. AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories
When he gets a properly written scene he seizes it by the scruff of the neck and shakes the juices out of it with Doberman ferocity.
Almost immediately, a scruffy youth approached me, his unkempt appearance readily identifying him as a candyman.
Photographs show him wearing the scruffy T-shirt and jeans that were the student's uniform of the time.
If it wasn't for the scruff on his face, he would have looked far too young.
Joshua David has described the atmosphere he and his co-founder envisioned as "less like a park and more like a scruffy wilderness," but the results will appear unruly only to those who still think of public gardens as requiring Victorian carpet bedding — yellow begonias and red pelargonium geometrically composed and obsessively mulched. Up in the Park
While the director, Carlos Saldanha, is Brazilian, some of the scruffier citizens of this Rio have Mexican accents. Animated 'Rio': A Witty Carnival of Brazil Nuts
The tale of the most frightsome hound as ever haunted London, and of Yapper, the Scruffian as learned to speak dog, the Scruffian as tamed Whelp ... well, as near to tamed him as that snarling, slavering, scurrilous cur of a canine ever could be tamed. Archive 2010-03-01
My winter coat is too warm for this time of year and my jeans jacket is too scruffy for work.
Surveys put the rotund, scruffy and gray-haired Mujica -- better known in Uruguay, population 3.3 million, by his nickname "Pepe" -- well ahead of his rivals and within striking distance of an outright win on Sunday. Raw Story
Here he let his hair grow longer and his clothes grow scruffy. Hemingway in Paris - Parisian walks for the literary traveller
She was used to looking at his scruffy suits and worn-out shoes. YELLOW BIRD
I took a look around at the poets, the grand scrufflarians I have taken such a liking to, and pondered the haphazardness of them all, the delightful observations I have absorbed by watching them.
I felt ashamed to let anyone come to the flat because it was filthy, smelly and scruffy.
It's all about contrasts and contradictions - the smart and the scruffy, the rough and the smooth.

How To Use Scruff In A Sentence

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