skelly

S1K5E1L1L1Y4
/ˈskɛli/

noun

A squint.

“We went spelunking in some caves and got quite the scare when we found some skellies in there.”

OriginOld Norse *skjelga ← Proto-Germanic *skilgijaną ← Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- →
UncommonScrabble 13
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Meanings

skelly1

nounskelly (plural skellies)

plural skellies

  1. ScotlandarchaicA squint.
verbskelly (third-person singular simple present skellies, present participle skellying, simple past and past participle skellied)

present singular third person skellies · participle present skellying · participle past skellied · past skellied

  1. ScotlandTo squint.

    "It is he—it is the very man," said Bothwell, "skellies fearfully with one eye?"

    1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume II (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 87
  2. ScotlandTo look at

skelly2

nounskelly (plural skellies)

plural skellies

  1. slangA skeleton, especially a human one.

    We went spelunking in some caves and got quite the scare when we found some skellies in there.

skelly3

nounskelly (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of skully (“street game of flicking caps”).

Skelly4

proper nounSkelly (plural Skellys)

plural Skellys

  1. A surname from Irish.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
skullysquint

Origin

skelly · noun, verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel-“to bend; crook”
  2. Proto-Germanic*skelhaz
  3. Proto-Germanic*skilgijaną“to squint”
  4. Old Norse*skjelga
  5. Englishskelly

Probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *skjelga ("to squint"; found only in the reflexive skjelgask (“to come askew; squint the eyes”)), from Proto-Germanic *skilgijaną (“to squint”), from Proto-Germanic *skelhaz, *skelhwaz, *skelgaz (“slanted; sloping; squinting”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“to bend; crook”). Compare Danish skele (“to squint”), Swedish skela (“to squint”), Scots skellie, scalie, skellice (“to squint; look to the side”), German schielen (“to squint”).

More words from Old Norse, Proto-Germanic, Proto-Indo-European

Full word history & related roots →

skelly · noun

From a clipping of skeleton + -y (diminutive suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

skelly · noun

Variant of skully.

Full word history & related roots →

Skelly · proper noun

Variant of Scally.

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Cite this entry
APA

skelly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skelly

MLA

“skelly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skelly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “skelly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skelly.

Source: skelly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.