skelly

See also: Skelly

English

Etymology 1

Probably of (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  origin, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Norse *skjelga ("to squint"; found only in the reflexive skjelgask (“to come askew; squint the eyes”)), from Proto-Germanic *skilgijaną (“to squint”), from Proto-Germanic *skelhaz, *skelhwaz, *skelgaz (“slanted; sloping; squinting”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to bend; crook”). Compare Danish skele (“to squint”), Swedish skela (“to squint”), Scots skellie, scalie, skellice (“to squint; look to the side”), German schielen (“to squint”).

Noun

skelly (plural skellies)

1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A squint.

Verb

skelly (third-person singular simple present skellies, present participle skellying, simple past and past participle skellied)

1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) To squint.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From a clipping of skeleton +‎ -y (diminutive suffix).

Noun

skelly (plural skellies)

1. (slang) A skeleton, especially a human one.

   We went spelunking in some caves and got quite the scare when we found some skellies in there.

Etymology 3

Variant of skully.

Noun

skelly (uncountable)

1. skully (the game)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “skelly”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)