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skelly

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skelly¹

  • /ˈskɛli/

Where it comes from

Probably of North Germanic origin, from 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 skellies

  1. Scotland, archaic A squint.

verb skellies · skellying · skellied

  1. Scotland To squint. "It is he—it is the very man," said Bothwell, "skellies fearfully with one eye?"
  2. Scotland To look at

skelly²

  • /ˈskɛli/

Where it comes from

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

noun 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.

skelly³

  • /ˈskɛli/

Where it comes from

Variant of skully.

noun

  1. alternative, uncountable Alternative form of skully (“street game of flicking caps”).

Skelly⁴

Where it comes from

Variant of Scally.

proper noun Skellys

  1. A surname from Irish.

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Cite this
MLA

"skelly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/skelly. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

skelly. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/skelly

Chicago

"skelly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/skelly.

BibTeX
@misc{skelly_2026,
  title = {skelly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/skelly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}