or scrimshander, subs. (nautical).—See quots. Also SCRIMSHON and SCRIMSHORN.
1883. W. C. RUSSELL, Sailors’ Language, s.v. SCRIMSHANDY. An Americanism signifying the objects in ivory or bone carved by whalemen during their long voyages.
1887. The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, v. ii. 231–2. SCRIMSHAWING … is the art, if art it be, of manufacturing useful and ornamental articles at sea…. We find handsome writing desks, toilet boxes, and work boxes made of foreign woods, inlaid with hundreds of other pieces of precious woods of various shapes and shades.
