Sense, knowledge. “Massa, me no scavey;” master, I don’t know (NEGRO LANGUAGE) perhaps from the French SCAVOIR.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Scarlet Horse * SchemeNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes