Skerry
noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A small rocky island which may be covered by the sea at high tide or during storms.
"The Seal (phoca vitulina, Lin. Syft.) which is here generally known by the name of selchy, is very common on most of our low shores, but particularly on those of the small holms and remote skerries, where it is frequently seen reposing and basking in the sun [...]."
Example
More examples"The Seal (phoca vitulina, Lin. Syft.) which is here generally known by the name of selchy, is very common on most of our low shores, but particularly on those of the small holms and remote skerries, where it is frequently seen reposing and basking in the sun [...]."
Etymology
From dialectal Scots (Shetlandic and Orcadian) skerry, from Old Norse sker (whence Danish skær and Norwegian Bokmål skjær). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.
More for "skerry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.