skep

English

Etymology

Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa (“basket”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɛp/
• Rhymes: -ɛp

Noun

skep (plural skeps)

1. A basket.
   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 115:

     Old women crouched over bags of Siamese rice, skeps of red and green peppers, purple egg-plants, bristly rambutans, pineapples, durians.

2. A beehive made of straw or wicker.
   • 1977, Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command

     He prised a skep from its stool and held it out, inverted, showing the dirty wreck of combs, with the vile grubs spinning their cocoons.

Derived terms

• beeskep