📖 S — The English dictionary · page 53

skimming — Everyday, meaning 1: Skimming means reading something quickly to get the main idea, without reading every word.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Skimming means removing something from the top of a liquid, like cream from milk or leaves from a pond.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Skimming means moving quickly just above or across a surface: a bird skimming the water.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Skimming stones is throwing flat stones so they bounce across water.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: (crime) Skimming is secretly copying bank card details with a hidden device, or secretly taking small amounts of money.↗ Example: I am skimming the article to see what it is about.↗ · Skimming is useful before you answer questions on a text.↗ · Grandma was skimming the cream off the milk.↗ · Swallows were skimming low over the river.↗ · We spent the afternoon skimming stones at the beach.↗ · My stone skimmed five times!↗ · Police warned shoppers about card skimming at cash machines.↗ · They were now so high, that a large ship beneath them looked like a white sea-gull skimming the waves.↗

skin — Everyday, meaning 1: The outer covering of a person's or animal's body.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The outer layer of a fruit or vegetable.↗ e.g. "banana skin".↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A thin layer that forms on top of a liquid.↗ e.g. "skin on hot milk".↗ Everyday, meaning 4: As a verb, to scrape the skin off.↗ e.g. "I skinned my knee."↗ Example: Your skin protects your body.↗ · Put sunscreen on your skin.↗ · I peeled the skin off the orange.↗ · She fell and skinned her knee.↗ · Snakes shed their old skin.↗ · Sweat on your skin helps you cool down.↗ · People have many different skin colours.↗ · We caught the bus by the skin of our teeth.↗ · THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN↗ · and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia-wood; (Torah EXO.25.5, JPS 1917)↗ · But if the scall spread abroad in the skin after his cleansing, (Torah LEV.13.35, JPS 1917)↗ · And the flesh and the skin were burnt with fire without the camp.↗ (Torah LEV.9.11, JPS 1917)↗ · Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?↗ (Prophets JER.13.23, JPS 1917)↗ · And these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent.↗ (Prophets JOS.9.13, JPS 1917)↗ · Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish-spears?↗ (Writings JOB.40.31, JPS 1917)↗

skinflint — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who hates spending money and is mean with it; a miser.↗ Example: The old skinflint would not give the poor man a single coin.↗ · Don't be a skinflint; share your sweets.↗ · The skinflint counted his coins every night.↗ · Nobody liked the skinflint who never bought anyone a present.↗

skinful — Everyday, meaning 1: (UK, Australia, informal, slang) A large amount of alcohol, enough to make someone drunk: «He'd had a skinful.».↗ Example: Uncle Ray had a skinful at the wedding and fell asleep.↗ · He'd had a skinful, so he got a taxi home.↗ · They had a skinful at the pub.↗ · After a skinful, you shouldn't drive.↗ · Grandpa said the sailor had a skinful.↗ · Mum frowned: «He's had a skinful again.»↗

skinned — Everyday, meaning 1: Skinned is the past of «to skin»: to take the skin off an animal or fruit.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: If you have skinned your knee, you have scraped some skin off it.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: As part of a word, -skinned describes the kind of skin something has: thick-skinned, dark-skinned, smooth-skinned.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Thick-skinned means not easily upset by criticism; thin-skinned means easily upset.↗ Example: I skinned my knee on the gravel.↗ · The cook skinned the potatoes.↗ · Keep your eyes skinned for the bus.↗ · She is thick-skinned and laughs off teasing.↗ · He is thin-skinned and gets upset easily.↗ · The recipe uses skinned tomatoes.↗ · The hunter skinned the rabbit for its fur.↗ · Bring up the great bull buffaloes, the blue-skinned herd bulls with the angry eyes.↗

skinny — Everyday, meaning 1: Skinny means very thin, sometimes too thin.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Skinny clothes fit closely, like skinny jeans.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (food) Skinny means made with low-fat milk, like a skinny latte.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (US slang) «The skinny» means the inside information or the facts.↗ Example: The stray cat was very skinny.↗ · I wear skinny jeans.↗ · My legs are skinny, but strong.↗ · (US slang) Give me the skinny on the new teacher.↗ · The skinny tree bent in the wind.↗ · Mum ordered a skinny latte.↗ · How would he look if he saw your pointy ears, your long thin snout, your shivering, skinny legs, and your long grey tail.↗

skint — Everyday, meaning 1: (slang, UK) Having no money at all; broke.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In old country speech, skint can mean climbed or scrambled quickly up something.↗ Example: I can't come to the cinema, I'm skint.↗ · (UK) Lend us a quid, I'm skint till Friday.↗ · After buying the bike, he was totally skint.↗ · We're a bit skint this week, so we'll eat at home.↗ · Skint again?↗ You spent all your pocket money on sweets!↗ · She was skint, so she walked instead of taking the bus.↗ · Brer Rabbit he skint up de chimbly--dat's w'at turnt de pot er greens over.↗

skip — Everyday, meaning 1: To skip is to move along with little hops and jumps.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To skip rope (UK: skipping) is to jump over a turning rope.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To skip something is to leave it out or not do it: skip breakfast.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To skip count is to count by 2s, 5s or 10s.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A skip (UK) is a big metal container for rubbish.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: To skip a place can mean to leave it quickly and run away from it.↗ Example: Skip count by 5s to 50.↗ · She skipped rope 80 times.↗ · He skipped 2 days of practice.↗ · How many pages did she read if she skipped 10?↗ · The children skipped happily down the lane.↗ · You skip a turn if you land on this square.↗ · Don't skip breakfast before a test.↗ · The builders filled the skip with old bricks.↗ · You better go long an' git yo' kyarpet-sack and skip de town.↗ · The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.↗ (Writings PSA.114.4, JPS 1917)↗ · Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams; ye hills, like young sheep?↗ (Writings PSA.114.6, JPS 1917)↗ · Hark! my beloved! behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.↗ (Writings SNG.2.8, JPS 1917)↗

skipjack — Everyday, meaning 1: A small fish that leaps out of the water, a kind of tuna.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In the tale, the name of a fish who is thought unable to jump.↗ Example: A skipjack is a fish that often leaps out of the sea.↗ · The skipjack stood a long time thinking.↗ · Everyone thought the skipjack could not jump at all.↗

skipper — Everyday, meaning 1: The captain of a ship or boat, especially a small one.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal, UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ) The captain of a sports team.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) A friendly name for a boss or leader, like «Okay, skipper».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (verb) To be the captain of a boat or team.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A small butterfly that darts quickly from flower to flower.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: A person who skips.↗ Example: The skipper steered the fishing boat into the harbour.↗ · Our skipper scored the winning try.↗ · She skippered the netball team to victory.↗ · "Aye, aye, skipper!" laughed the crew.↗ · England's skipper lifted the trophy.↗ · A tiny skipper butterfly landed on the thistle.↗ · Dad calls his boss "skipper" as a joke.↗ · Then the skipper said: "All good things defend you, Nigel, from sailing near that light.↗

skirl — Everyday, meaning 1: A loud, shrill cry or high sound, such as the sound of bagpipes; to make such a cry.↗ Example: The pipes gave a loud skirl.↗ · The boy let out a skirl that made the giant jump.↗ · The gulls skirled over the harbour.↗

skirt — Everyday, meaning 1: A skirt is a piece of clothing worn by women and girls that hangs from the waist and has no separate legs.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The skirt of a dress or coat is the part below the waist.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To skirt something means to go round the edge of it.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To skirt (round) a problem or question means to avoid talking about it.↗ Example: She wore a grey pleated skirt to school.↗ · Girls may choose a skirt or trousers.↗ · The path skirted the lake.↗ · We skirted round the muddy field.↗ · The politician skirted the question about money.↗ · Her skirt swirled as she danced.↗ · The kilt is a kind of skirt worn by Scottish men.↗ · Mum painted the skirting board white.↗ · Wandering along the banks of the Tigris, they skirted a garden enclosed by a high wall.↗ · A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.↗ (Torah DEU.22.30, JPS 1917)↗ · Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he hath uncovered his father's skirt.↗ (Torah DEU.27.20, JPS 1917)↗ · And they made upon the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.↗ (Torah EXO.39.24, JPS 1917)↗ · Therefore will I also uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear.↗ (Prophets JER.13.26, JPS 1917)↗ · Thou shalt also take thereof a few by number, and bind them in thy skirts.↗ (Prophets EZK.5.3, JPS 1917)↗ · And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.↗ (Prophets 1SA.24.6, JPS 1917)↗

skittish — Everyday, meaning 1: Easily frightened, nervous and jumpy, ready to run off at any noise.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Of a horse, lively and likely to shy or bolt.↗ Example: The skittish pony jumped at the sound of the bell.↗ · The rabbits were skittish and ran at every noise.↗ · Don't be skittish; the dog will not bite you.↗

skittle — Everyday, meaning 1: A wooden or plastic bottle-shaped piece that players try to knock down with a ball.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Skittles is the game played with them, an older cousin of ten-pin bowling.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (UK, informal) «Bowl over like skittles» or «knocked down like skittles» means many things falling quickly.↗ Example: We set up nine skittles at the end of the hall.↗ · Sam knocked down six skittles with one ball.↗ · Let's play skittles in the garden!↗ · The bowling ball scattered the skittles.↗ · The wind knocked the bins over like skittles.↗ · Life isn't all beer and skittles, said Grandad.↗

skittles — Everyday, meaning 1: A game in which you roll a ball to knock down wooden pins; like bowling.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (plural of skittle) The wooden or plastic pins used in this game.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (a name) Skittles is a brand of small, fruity, colourful chewy sweets (candies).↗ Example: We played skittles in the garden.↗ · I knocked down eight skittles with one ball.↗ · If you knock down 6 of 9 skittles, 3 are still standing.↗ · My friend shared her bag of Skittles.↗ · The skittles fell over with a clatter.↗ · Grandad plays skittles at the pub on Fridays.↗

skua — Everyday, meaning 1: A large brown seabird of cold northern and southern seas that often chases other seabirds to make them drop or bring up their food, and attacks people who come near its nest.↗ Example: A skua chased the puffin until it dropped its fish.↗ · Great skuas live on the islands of Shetland.↗ · The skua swooped at our heads because we were near its nest.↗ · In Antarctica, skuas steal penguin eggs.↗ · Skuas are called the pirates of the sea.↗ · The skua is brown and about the size of a big gull.↗

skull — Everyday, meaning 1: The skull is the hard bony frame of the head that protects the brain.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A skull with crossed bones is a sign of danger or poison, and on old flags of pirates.↗ Example: The skull protects your brain.↗ · Wear a helmet to protect your skull.↗ · We saw a dinosaur skull at the museum.↗ · A skull and crossbones on a bottle means poison.↗ · The pirate flag had a skull on it.↗ · Your skull is made of several bones joined together.↗ · The doctor looked at an X-ray of his skull.↗ · A baby's skull has soft spots.↗ · So they carried the skull into the sitting-room.↗ · And a certain woman cast an upper millstone upon Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.↗ (Prophets JDG.9.53, JPS 1917)↗ · And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.↗ (Prophets 2KI.9.35, JPS 1917)↗

skunk — Everyday, meaning 1: A small black-and-white animal of North America with a bushy tail, which sprays a very bad-smelling liquid when it is frightened.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Skunk can also be an insult for a mean, dishonest person.↗ Example: A skunk walked across our garden at night.↗ · The dog came home smelling of skunk.↗ · A skunk sprays when it is scared.↗ · Skunks have black and white fur.↗ · Skunks eat insects, eggs and berries.↗ · Back away slowly if you see a skunk.↗ · Its stripes warn other animals to stay away.↗ · I have eliminated a malodorous and un-English skunk.↗

sky — Everyday, meaning 1: The space above the Earth where you see clouds, the Sun, the Moon and the stars.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The weather or look of it: blue skies, grey skies.↗ Example: The sky is blue today.↗ · Birds fly across the sky.↗ · At night the sky is full of stars.↗ · Dark clouds filled the sky before the storm.↗ · The sky turned pink at sunset.↗ · Skyscrapers are very tall buildings.↗ · We hope for clear skies on sports day.↗ · Prices went sky-high.↗ · Little by little the sky cleared.↗ · There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven as thy help, and in His excellency on the skies.↗ (Torah DEU.33.26, JPS 1917)↗ · Which the skies pour down and drop upon the multitudes of men.↗ (Writings JOB.36.28, JPS 1917)↗ · And He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; (Writings PSA.78.23, JPS 1917)↗ · Thy lovingkindness, O LORD, is in the heavens; Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.↗ (Writings PSA.36.6, JPS 1917)↗