skeg

English

A skeg-mounted rudder.

Etymology

From a dialectal term for a stump, branch, or wooden peg; compare Swedish skog. Compare also shaw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɛɡ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡ

Noun

skeg (plural skegs)

1. (nautical) A fin-like structure to the rear of the keel of a vessel that supports the rudder and protects a propeller.
2. (nautical) A similar construction on a boat that acts as a keel.
3. A fin that serves to stabilize a surfboard.
4. (Australia, slang) A surfer; a person who leads a surfing lifestyle.
5. (obsolete) A sort of wild plum (Prunus spinosa or Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (syn. Prunus institia)).
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book II.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, →OCLC:

     Some take them for Damascen plums, or rather for Bullois, Skegs, or such like wilde Plums.

6. (obsolete) A kind of oat.
   • 1842, Cuthbert William Johnson, The farmer's encyclopædia, and dictionary of rural affairs:

     SKEGS. A kind of oat, sometimes cultivated as a crop in Nottinghamshire. It is the Avena stipiformis of Linnaeus.

7. (Northern England) A look or glance.

Translations

rudder-supporting structure

• Dutch: scheg (nl)
• Finnish: skegi
• French: aileron (fr) m, skeg (fr)
• German: Scheg n
• Italian: dragante (it)

similar construction on a boat that acts as a keel

• Finnish: köli (fi)

fin that stabilizes a surfboard

• Finnish: evä (fi)

surfer — see surfer

References

• “skeg”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “skeg”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• kegs