COMMON SCOLD

Crim. law, communes rixatrix. A woman, who, in consequence of her boisterous, disorderly and quarrelsome tongue, is a public nuisance to the neighborhood. 2. Such a woman may be indicted, and on conviction, punished. At common law, the punishment was by being placed in a certain engine of correction called the trebucket or cocking stool. 3. This punisbment has been abolished in Pennsylvania, where the offence may be punished by fine and imprisonment.