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Skeleton
Definitions
- 1 The system that provides support to an organism, internal and made up of bones and cartilage in vertebrates, external in some other animals.
"At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground."
- 2 A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first. uncountable
"Lugers, who slide feet first and reach the highest speeds, experience some of the same forces, but seem to suffer far fewer concussion-like symptoms than bobsled and skeleton athletes do, probably because a support strap often prevents their heads from banging into the ice."
- 3 the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape wordnet
- 4 An anthropomorphic representation of a skeleton.
"She dressed up as a skeleton for Halloween."
- 5 the hard structure (bones and cartilages) that provides a frame for the body of an animal wordnet
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 A very thin person. figuratively
"She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton."
- 7 a scandal that is kept secret wordnet
- 8 The central core of something that gives shape to the entire structure. figuratively
"The skeleton of the organisation is essentially the same as it was ten years ago, but many new faces have come and gone."
- 9 something reduced to its minimal form wordnet
- 10 A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
- 11 A client-helper procedure that communicates with a stub.
"In remote method invocation, the client helper is a ‘stub’ and the service helper is a ‘skeleton’."
- 12 The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.
- 13 A very thin form of light-faced type.
- 14 A minimum or bare essentials. attributive, especially
"At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services. It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in question, provides only a skeleton of the former service."
- 15 The network of veins in a leaf.
"However interesting the skeleton of a leaf that has been bleached by nature may be, it cannot be alleged to be beautiful in colour, and therefore it is not of much value for the purposes of household decoration."
- 16 Clipping of skeleton in the closet (“a shameful secret”). abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, idiomatic
- 1 To reduce to a skeleton; to skin; to skeletonize. archaic
- 2 To minimize. archaic
Etymology
From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).
From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).
The etymology of the term is disputed between two versions. * From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton. * From Norwegian kjaelke (a type of ice sled) through a bad anglicization as "skele".
See also for "skeleton"
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