Skell
noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 a homeless person, especially one who sleeps in the New York subway. New-York, US, slang
"Did you see those two skells lying in the doorway?"
- 2 A male suspicious person or crime suspect, especially a street person such as a drug dealer, pimp or panhandler. New-York, US, jargon, slang
Verb
- 1 To fall off or fall over. intransitive, slang
"She went skelling over on the ice."
Example
More examples"Did you see those two skells lying in the doorway?"
Etymology
* 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.
Related phrases
More for "skell"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.