<B>skittle, </B>noun, verb, <B>-tled,</B> <B>-tling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> one of the pins used in the game of skittles. <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Cricket.) to get (batsmen) out rapidly in succession. <BR> <I>Ex. Jim Laker of England set a significant mark among bowlers when he skittled out nineteen Australians in two innings (Newsweek).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>skittles,</B> </I>a game in which each player tries to knock down nine wooden pins by rolling balls or throwing wooden disks at them. <BR> <I>Ex. Skittles resembles bowling.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skittlealley">
<B>skittle alley,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an alley used in the game of skittles. </DL>
<A NAME="skittleball">
<B>skittle ball,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a heavy disk, usually of hard wood, for throwing or sliding at the pins in the game of skittles. </DL>
<A NAME="skive">
<B>skive</B> (1), transitive verb, <B>skived,</B> <B>skiving.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to slice or split (leather or rubber) into layers. <DD><B> 2. </B>to shave (hides). <DD><B> 3. </B>to pare off. </DL>
<A NAME="skive">
<B>skive</B> (2), intransitive verb, <B>skived,</B> <B>skiving.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Dialect.) <DD><B> 1. </B>to move lightly and quickly; dart. <DD><B> 2. </B>to go; depart. <BR> <I>Ex. He ... skived off to church (Observer).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skiver">
<B>skiver, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a person who skives. <DD><B> b. </B>a tool that skives; knife for skiving. <DD><B> 2. </B>a thin, soft leather sliced from the grain side of sheepskin, used for bookbinding and sweatbands in hats. </DL>
<A NAME="skivey">
<B>skivey, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eys.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British Slang.) skivvy. </DL>
<A NAME="skivvies">
<B>skivvies, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Nautical Slang.) men's underwear. <BR> <I>Ex. Officers were in shirt sleeves; some of the crew lounged in their skivvies (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skivvieshirt">
<B>skivvie shirt,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Nautical Slang.) an undershirt. </DL>
<A NAME="skivvy">
<B>skivvy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-vies,</B> verb, <B>-vied,</B> <B>-vying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British Slang.) <DD><I>noun </I> a woman servant of low status, such as a scullery maid. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to work as a skivvy; do domestic or menial work. <BR> <I>Ex. There are now better jobs than skivvying to look for, and wages sometimes comparable with what the job-seeking housewife herself might be earning (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skiwear">
<B>skiwear, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> clothes worn for skiing. </DL>
<B>skoal, </B>noun, interjection, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun, interj. </I> a Scandinavian word used in drinking a health. It means "Hail" or "May you prosper." <DD><I>v.i. </I> to drink healths. </DL>
<A NAME="skokiaan">
<B>skokiaan, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in South Africa) illegally distilled whiskey; moonshine. </DL>
<A NAME="skolly">
<B>skolly, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in South Africa) a young native rascal or hoodlum. <BR> <I>Ex. There has always been an element of skolly crime in the Peninsula (Cape Argus).</I> </DL>
<B>skosh, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a small amount; little. <BR> <I>Ex. A new line of Levi's for men is constructed with "a skosh more room where I need it" (Detroit Free Press).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skr">
<B>Skr.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Sanskrit. </DL>
<A NAME="skrymir">
<B>Skrymir, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Norse Mythology.) the king of the giants dwelling in Jotunheim. </DL>
<A NAME="skt">
<B>Skt.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Sanskrit. </DL>
<A NAME="skua">
<B>skua, </B>noun, or <B>skua gull,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several large brown sea birds that are related to the gulls and jaegers. <BR> <I>Ex. The skua gull though rarely abundant, is ubiquitous; it appears to be the only scavenger in inland Antarctica (E. F. Roots).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skuld">
<B>Skuld, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Norse Mythology.) one of the three Norns or goddesses of fate, a dwarf representing the future. </DL>
<A NAME="skulduggery">
<B>skulduggery, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) trickery; dishonesty. <BR> <I>Ex. That was the season when the Cobb-Lajoie duel for the batting championship brought angry charges of skulduggery and complicity (New York Times).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>skullduggery.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="skulk">
<B>skulk, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to keep out of sight to avoid danger, work, or duty; hide for a bad purpose; lurk in a cowardly way; sneak. <BR> <I>Ex. On Saturdays several boys could be seen skulking about behind the garage avoiding their chores.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to move in a stealthy, sneaking way. <BR> <I>Ex. The wolf was skulking near the sheep. It is a poor thing for a fellow to get drunk at night and skulk to bed (Samuel Johnson).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who skulks. <BR> <I>Ex. You are certainly no skulk when duty is to be done (James Fenimore Cooper).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a group or collection of animals which skulk. <BR> <I>Ex. We say a flight of doves ... a skulk of foxes (Washington Irving).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a group of other animals or persons. <BR> <I>Ex. a skulk of thieves.</I> noun <B>skulker.</B> adv. <B>skulkingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="skull">
<B>skull, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the bony framework of the head, face, and lower jaw in man and other animals with backbones; bones of the head; cranium. The skull encloses and protects the brain. <BR> <I>Ex. The human skull may conveniently be divided into three principal portions: the cranium or cranial vault, the face, and the lower jaw or mandible (Beals and Hoijer).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the head; brain. <BR> <I>Ex. Skulls that cannot teach and will not learn (William Cowper).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a crust which is formed by the cooling of molten metal on the sides of a ladle or other vessel. <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Slang.) to hit on the skull. <BR> <I>Ex. I've seen more guys skulled by warm-up throwers on the sidelines than I've ever seen hit in a ball game (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skullandcrossbones">
<B>skull and crossbones,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a picture of a human skull above two crossed bones. It was often used on pirates' flags as a symbol of death, and is now used on the labels of poisons. </DL>
<A NAME="skullcap">
<B>skullcap, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a close-fitting cap without a brim. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a Presbyterian clergyman wearing a black silk skullcap, covering his short hair (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of various plants of themint family in which the calyx looks like a bowl-shaped helmet. <DD><B> 3. </B>the upper, caplike part of the skull; top or roof of the head. <BR> <I>Ex. The extinct Solo man was inferred from eleven skullcaps found in Java.</I> </DL>
<B>skulled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a skull. </DL>
<A NAME="skulled">
<B>-skulled,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) having a ______ skull. <BR> <I>Ex. Thick-skulled = having a thick skull.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skullfish">
<B>skullfish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an old whale, or one more than two years of age. </DL>
<A NAME="skullpractice">
<B>skull practice,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Sports Slang.) a lesson or drill in which diagrams are used to explain the tactics of a game. <BR> <I>Ex. Skull practice ... held by a football coach and his players (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skunk">
<B>skunk, </B>noun, pl. <B>skunks</B> or (collectively for 1) <B>skunk,</B> verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a black, bushy-tailed animal of North and South America, usually with white markings on the back and tail; polecat. It is a burrowing mammal about the size of a cat. When frightened or attacked, a skunk squirts a spray of liquid with a very strong, unpleasant smell from a pair of glands near its tail. There are several kinds of skunks. They belong to the same family as the weasel. <DD><B> 2. </B>the fur of this animal, used especially in making coats. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) a mean, contemptible person. <BR> <I>Ex. He must think me the most awful skunk (John Galsworthy).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> (U.S. Slang.) to defeat utterly, as in an unequal contest where one side is held scoreless. <BR> <I>Ex. He had got 292 votes in New Orleans, and had been skunked in only two parishes out of sixty-three (New Yorker).</I> adj. <B>skunklike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="skunkbear">
<B>skunk bear,</B> <B>=wolverine.</B></DL>
<A NAME="skunkblackbird">
<B>skunk blackbird,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the male bobolink in full plumage. </DL>
<A NAME="skunkcabbage">
<B>skunk cabbage,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a low, broad-leaved, ill-smelling North American perennial plant of the arum family, growing commonly in moist ground. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar and related plant of the Pacific coast. </DL>
<A NAME="skunkery">
<B>skunkery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a place where skunks are kept and raised, as for fur. </DL>
<B>skunky, </B>adjective, <B>skunkier,</B> <B>skunkiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of a skunk; like that of a skunk. <BR> <I>Ex. People describe the odor as skunky (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>befitting a skunk; nasty. <BR> <I>Ex. You try to shove him into any skunky corner ... and he lets you know (Richard D. Blackmore).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="skupshtina">
<B>Skupshtina, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the former national assembly of Yugoslavia, consisting of a single chamber. <DD><B> 2. </B>the former national assembly of Serbia or of Montenegro, likewise consisting in each case of a single chamber. </DL>
<A NAME="skurf">
<B>skurf, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) to ride on a skateboard. <BR> <I>Ex. Hundreds of vacationing teen-agers chanting "we want to skurf" wheeled to City Hall ... on their skateboards (Toronto Globe and Mail).</I> noun <B>skurfer.</B> </DL>
