skell
English
editPronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛl
Etymology 1
edit- 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
editNoun
editskell (plural skells)
- (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?
- (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
edit- See also Thesaurus:vagabond
References
edit- 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
editVerb
editskell (third-person singular simple present skells, present participle skelling, simple past and past participle skelled)
- (slang, intransitive) To fall off or fall over.
- She went skelling over on the ice.
Anagrams
editIcelandic
editVerb
editskell (strong)
Verb
editskell (weak)
Categories:
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛl
- Rhymes:English/ɛl/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English slang
- American English
- New York English
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Drugs
- Icelandic non-lemma forms
- Icelandic verb forms