Skilly
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Skillygalee. obsolete, uncountable
"“I would be given for supper six ounces of bread and ‘three parts of skilly.’ ‘Three parts’ means three-quarters of a pint, and ‘skilly’ is a fluid concoction of three quarts of oatmeal stirred into three buckets and a half of hot water.”"
- 2 a thin porridge or soup (usually oatmeal and water flavored with meat) wordnet
- 1 Skilled, skilful. Northern-England, Scotland
"So, being a fell impatient man, and skilly with his hands, he took Sam Gourlay a clout in the lug that couped him down in the stour […]"
Example
More examples"“I would be given for supper six ounces of bread and ‘three parts of skilly.’ ‘Three parts’ means three-quarters of a pint, and ‘skilly’ is a fluid concoction of three quarts of oatmeal stirred into three buckets and a half of hot water.”"
Etymology
Shortening.
From Middle English skylly, skily, equivalent to skill + -y.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.