skeleton
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Ancient Greek σκελετός (skeletos) "dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy", from σκελλώ (skello) "to dry, dry up, make dry, parch".
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
|
Singular |
Plural |
skeleton (plural skeletons)
- (anatomy) The system that provides support to an organism, internal and made up of bones and cartilage in vertebrates, external in some other animals.
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island,
- At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground.
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island,
- A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
- A very thin person.
- She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.
- (From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton.) A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first (compare luge).
- (geometry) The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.
[edit] Synonyms
- (type of tobogganing): skeleton tobogganing
[edit] Translations
system that provides support to an organism
frame that provides support to a building
very thin person
|
|
type of tobogganing
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
- endoskeleton
- exoskeleton
- hydrostatic skeleton
- skeleton crew
- skeleton in the closet, skeleton in the cupboard
- skeleton key
- skeleton staff
[edit] See also
[edit] Verb
Archaic to skeleton
- to reduce to a skeleton; to skin
- to minimize
[edit] French
[edit] Noun
skeleton m.
- skeleton (tobogganing)

