scallop

• scollop (rare, chiefly British)

From Old French escalope (“shell”). Doublet of escalope. Related to scale and shell.

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈskɑləp/, /ˈskæləp/
  • (traditional New England) IPA^(key): /ˈskɑləp/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskɒləp/, /ˈskæləp/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛləp/, /ˈskɔləp/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈskaləp/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛləp/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æləp, -ɒləp

scallop (plural scallops)

1. Any of various marine bivalve molluscs of the family Pectinidae which are free-swimming.

   Synonyms: (UK) scollop, (parts of Australia) sea scallop

2. One of a series of curves, forming an edge similar to a scallop shell, especially in knitting and crochet.
   • 1980 December 27, Andrea Loewenstein, “Voices in the Night”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 23, page 12:

     A coral rose, its petals unfolded in scallop around the tight inner bud

3. (cooking) A fillet of meat, escalope.
4. (cooking, UK, Ireland, Australia, regional) A battered and deep-fried round potato slice.

   Synonyms: (parts of Australia) potato cake, (parts of Australia, England and Ireland) potato scallop, (parts of England) fritter, (parts of England) smack, (parts of England) fairy chip, potato fritter

5. (cooking, UK, regional, rare) A sautéed potato (a shallow-fried round potato slice).
6. A dish shaped like a scallop shell.

To specify bivalves, rather than fillets of meat or potatoes, sea scallop and similar terms may be used instead. This is particularly done when several of these are used, such as in cookbooks and in parts of Australia.

scallop (third-person singular simple present scallops, present participle scalloping, simple past and past participle scalloped)

1. To create or form an edge in the shape of a crescent or multiple crescents.
   • 1966, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, page 362:

     We can scallop coastlines to make them longer to serve more people.

   • 2010, Girish M. Fatterpekar, The Teaching Files: Head and Neck Imaging, →ISBN:

     Although aggressive, the lesion tends to scallop and not destroy the adjacent osseous structures.

   • 2012, Jo McDougall, Hilary Masters, Daddy’s Money: A Memoir of Farm and Family, →ISBN:

     The daughter of the family, Katie, was older than I, an accomplished seamstress who helped me sew my first garment, a pull-over apron, and showed me how to scallop the neckline of a linen blouse.

   • 2013, Anita & Seymour Isenberg, How to Work in Beveled Glass: Forming, Designing, and Fabricating, →ISBN:

     On the vertical stone you have to move the glass fairly quickly or it will tend not only to facet but also to scallop, since there is less glass surface touching than with the horizontal.

   • 2014, Sharon Steuer, The Adobe Illustrator WOW! Book for CS6 and CC, →ISBN, page 100:

     Then, letting go of Option/ Alt, Gordon dragged the widget inward to scallop the corners.

2. (transitive) To bake in a casserole (gratin), originally in a scallop shell; especially used in form scalloped
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 123:

     I stewed them, made them into soup, and crowned all my efforts by a grand success in scalloping them, deceiving every one into the belief that they were eating oysters.

   • 1908, Mary Mapes Dodge, St. Nicholas - Volume 35, Part 2, page 1104:

     And I can scallop those cold boiled potatoes and stew a can of tomatoes.

   • 1988, Margie Kreschollek, The guaranteed goof-proof microwave cookbook, →ISBN, page 106:

     You can scallop, steam, poach, bread, brown, stuff, or put your fish in a sauce, and still have it moist and tender.

   • 2007, Andy Rooney, Out of My Mind, →ISBN:

     You can scallop them and if you're good in the kitchen, souffle them.

   • 2015, Caroline French Benton, Living on a Little:

     By the way, sometimes cut or chop these potatoes quite fine, and after creaming them put crumbs on top and bake them; that is a good change. Of course you can scallop the second supply, too, or chop and brown them, or serve in any one of a dozen ways; look those things all up, so you will not get into a rut.

3. (intransitive) To harvest scallops
   • 1972, Phyllis Méras, First spring: a Martha's Vineyard journal, page 18:

     He has never wanted to live anywhere but the Island, he says, where he can scallop or ice-boat in winter, depending on his mood; hunt bluebills and deer in season; look after his cows and his sheep.

   • 1993, Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery, Fisheries Management Plan:

     The project has just now been completed only for me to find I may not be able to catch scallops by placing the F/V "Miss Sue Ann" into the Occasional catagory. Please let me know how, given the unusual factual situation that I find myself in, I can scallop more than 19 days.

   • 2012, Lisa Genova, Love Anthony, →ISBN:

     Jimmy used to scallop from October to March and bartend a few shifts here and there over the summers when scalloping is prohibited.

•   scallop on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• callops