skell

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

• Perhaps from skeleton, describing the often skeletal appearance of drug users.
• Alternatively, from skellum or skelder ("to beg in the streets"). Used by Ben Jonson, 1599.
• In the sense of a suspicious person, popularized by the American TV police drama NYPD Blue.

Alternative forms

• skel

Noun

skell (plural skells)

1. (slang, US, New York) 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, New York, police jargon) A male suspicious person or crime suspect, especially a street person such as a drug dealer, pimp or panhandler.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:vagabond

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]

Etymology 2

Verb

1. (slang, intransitive) To fall off or fall over.

   She went skelling over on the ice.

Anagrams

• Kells, kells

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Icelandic

Verb

Template:is-verb form (strong)

1. first-person singular present indicative of skella
2. second-person singular imperative of skella

Verb

Template:is-verb form (weak)

1. second-person singular imperative of skella