Skillygalee
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A type of gruel made from oatmeal, oft-served historically in poorhouses, sailors' ships, etc. obsolete, uncountable
"Breakfast was served at 8am and sometimes consisted of skillygalee, a sort of oatmeal gruel prepared in fatty water and which by the time of Trafalgar included butter and sugar."
- 2 A thin broth generally prepared by soaking hardtack in water, and frying with pork fat/lard. obsolete, uncountable
"Skillygalee was born of left-over pork grease and crackers too tough to bite and chew."
Example
More examples"Breakfast was served at 8am and sometimes consisted of skillygalee, a sort of oatmeal gruel prepared in fatty water and which by the time of Trafalgar included butter and sugar."
Etymology
Unknown and much-speculated (compare lobscouse and other fancifully-named hardy foods), but possibly Irish in root.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.