skell

English

Alternative forms

• skel

Etymology

• From skeleton, describing the often skeletal appearance of drug users.
• Alternatively, from skellum or skelder ("to beg in the streets"). Used by Ben Johnson, 1599.

Noun

skell (plural skells)

1. (slang, US) a homeless person, especially one who sleeps in the New York subway.

   Did you see those two skells lying in the doorway?

2. (slang, US) (informal police jargon) A male suspicious person or crime suspect, especially a street person such as a drug dealer, pimp or panhandler. (Compare scumbag.) Popularized on the American TV police drama NYPD Blue.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:vagabond

Verb

skell (third-person singular simple present skells, present participle skelling, simple past and past participle skelled)

1. (slang) To fall off or fall over

   She went skelling over on the ice.

References

• The City in Slang, New York Life and Popular Speech, by Irving Lewis Allen, 1993.[1]
• Dictionary of American Regional English, by Joan Houston Hall, 2002[2]