sculch n Also sp scultch, skulch [seEngl dial var of culch n; cf OED2 sculch 1847→, EDD sculch, Intro “Language Changes” I.8] chiefly eNEng
= culch n 2.
1844 NH Gazette (Portsmouth) 31 Dec [2]/4, All was confusion and uproar, until the sculch from the sinkhole of office-begging had departed. 1863 Union Democrat (Manchester NH) 15 Sept 1/1 VT, [Letter:] I have seen enough of . . hard crackers, and stinking beef and pork, and old scultch that our hogs would not eat at home. 1881 Davenport Democrat (IA) 28 June [2]/2, Breed the best and they will sell themselves. Breed sculch and the auctioneer will have to be paid his commissions, and low prices will be the rule. 1890 Jrl. Amer. Folkl. 3.64 eMA, There seems to be a near relative to this word [=culch] in sculch, which may be applied in a similar manner, but more in connection with swill. Food unfit to eat we were in the habit of calling sculch. Or if what was good had been kept for some days, so that one had become tired of seeing it in the closet, we might say: “Don’t keep that sculch here any longer, throw it away.” 1900 Day Up in ME 91, That harrycane. . . It picked up sculch and dirt. 1903 Wasson Cap’n Simeon’s Store 18 ME, I know one time there was much as half a dezen on ’em kickin’ round under foot up attic there amongst the rest-part o’ the krawm and sculch. 1909 DN 3.415 nME, Sculch. . . Same as culch. 1914 DN 4.79 ME, nNH, Skulch. . . Refuse, swill. 1941 LANE Map 346 (Rubbish) [Sculch appears chiefly in sNH and eMA and occasionally elsewhere in the areas where culch is used.] 1950 Perrin Coll. NEng, Skulch—trash, worthless stuff—This word, natural in my New England days, has usually roused questions . . in other parts of the country. 1975 Nashua Telegraph (NH) 1 Aug 4/5, The lay minister, who wanted such sculch removed from the schools . . apparently also wanted Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath removed. 1988 Yankee Aug 22 NH, My mother used to say, “Clean out the skulch in your room,” or ask Dad to take skulch to the dump.