skerry

plural skerries

1. A small rocky island which may be covered by the sea at high tide or during storms.

   The three men proceeded, with a little difficulty, to scale the skerry, finding Gannets and Guillemots on the upper reaches.

   2000, Jeremy Gaskell, Who Killed the Great Auk?, Oxford University Press, page 20

   4 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 [...].

   1805, George Barry, History of the Orkney Islands, page 322

   His companions were very unwilling to leave him on the skerries, perhaps to perish, but the surge increased so fast that after many unsuccessful attempts to bring the boat in close to the stacks, they were obliged to depart and leave the unfortunate man to his fate.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 266

   The fog disappeared gradually, disclosing the blue line of the coast and the far outlying naked skerries, while before us lay the ocean in its interminable extent, blushing in the morning sun.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182

   Grim the Halogalander's crew sailed along Borgarfjord beyond the skerries, then cast anchor until the storm died down and the weather brightened up.

   1997, Bernard Scudder, transl., Egil's Saga, Penguin Books, page 46