skiff
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skiff¹
- /skɪf/
Sounds like SCIF · Rhymes with -ɪf
Where it comes from
From Middle English skif, from Middle French esquif, from Old Italian schifo (“small boat”), from Lombardic skif (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“boat, ship”). Doublet of ship.
noun skiffs
- A small flat-bottomed open boat with a pointed bow and square stern. Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
- Any of various types of boats small enough for sailing or rowing by one person. I went alone into a Shepherd's boat, A skiff that to a willow-tree was tied Within a rocky cave, its usual home […]
verb skiffs · skiffing · skiffed
- To navigate in a skiff.
skiff²
- /skɪf/
Sounds like SCIF · Rhymes with -ɪf
Where it comes from
From Scots skiff (“light shower of rain or snow”), from skiff (“move lightly”); compare the derivative skiffle (whence English skiffle) and (English skift (“light dusting of snow”) from) Scots skift (“light shower of snow”), from skift (“move lightly”), perhaps related to shift/Old Norse skipta, or perhaps an onomatopoeic formation.
noun skiffs
- A light, fleeting shower of rain or snow, or gust of wind, etc. A skiff of rain blew into the shed and the two men moved their chairs back.
- A (typically light) dusting of snow or ice (or dust, etc) (on ground, water, trees, etc). At sunrise there was a slight skiff of ice on some water in a bucket; […]
verb skiffs · skiffing · skiffed
- To fall lightly or briefly, and lightly cover the ground (etc). We must be constantly alert to increased accident potentials in taxiing, takeoff, and landings on ice-glazed and snow-skiffed runways.
skiff³
- /skɪf/
Sounds like SCIF · Rhymes with -ɪf
noun skiffs
- An act of slightly pruning tea bushes, placing new leaves at a convenient height without removing much woody growth. In the fourth year, "light skiff" pruning removes just the uppermost growth.
verb skiffs · skiffing · skiffed
- To cut (a tea bush) to maintain the plucking table. Skiffing is the lightest form of pruning involving as it does removal of a certain amount of growth above the previous pruning level.
Skiff⁴
proper noun Skiffs
- A surname.
Translations
Talk about this word "skiff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/skiff. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. skiff. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/skiff "skiff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/skiff.Cite this
@misc{skiff_2026,
title = {skiff},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/skiff},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
