sky

plural skies · alternative skie

1. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

   That year, a meteor fell from the sky.

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   For beſides the groues, / The skyes, the fountaines, euery region neare / Seeme all one mutuall cry. I neuer heard / So muſicall a diſcord, ſuch ſweete thunder.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 40

   [I]f you doe not all ſhew like guilt twoo pences to mee, and I in the cleere skie of Fame, ore-ſhine you as much as the full moone doth the cindars of the element, (which ſhew like pinnes heads to her) beleeue not the worde of the noble: […]

   [I]f you do not all appear like gilt twopences [i.e., counterfeit coins] next to me, and I, in the clear sky of fame, outshine you as much as the full moon outshines the cinders of the element [i.e., the stars] (which look like pinheads next to the moon), then don't believe me: […]

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]

   [A] Nobler Sir, ne're liu'd / 'Twixt sky and ground.

   1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 396, column 1

   I went with some of my relations to Court, to shew them his Maᵗⁱᵉˢ cabinet and closset of rarities; […] Here I saw […] amongst the clocks, one that shew'd the rising and setting of the Sun in yᵉ Zodiaq, the Sunn represented by a face and raies of gold, upon an azure skie, observing yᵉ diurnal and annual motion, rising and setting behind a landscape of hills, the work of our famous Fromantel; and severall other rarities.

   1660 November 10 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 1 November 1660]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 327

   Synonyms: blue, firmament, heaven, lift, welkin

2. With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

   I lay back under a warm Texas sky.

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   We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.

   Yon ancient prude, whoſe wither'd features ſhow / She might be young ſome forty years ago, / […] / With boney and unkerchief'd neck defies / The rude inclemency of wintry ſkies, / And ſails with lappet-head and mincing airs / Duely at clink of bell, to morning pray'rs.

   1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 80

   All in a hot and copper sky / The bloody sun at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the moon.

   1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC, part II, stanza 7, page 13

   [T]he stars / Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west / The orange sky of evening died away.

   1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book I. Introduction.—Childhood and School-time.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 21

   With that sharp sound the white dawn's creeping beams, / Stol'n to my brain, dissolved the mystery / Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams / Ruled in the eastern sky.

   1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza LXVII, page 201

3. archaicliterarypoeticUsually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

   This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.

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   Now am I dead, now am I fled, my ſoule is in the sky.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphære, / So maist thou be tranſlated to the skies, / And give reſounding grace to all Heav'ns Harmonies.

   Comus

   1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 9

   Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combuſtion down / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durſt defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 44-49

   The Gods to live in Woods have left the Skies.

   1697, Virgil, “The Second Pastoral. Or, Alexis.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 8, line 86

   Mars ſmil'd and bow'd, the Cyprian Deity / Turn'd to the glorious Ruler of the Sky: / And Thou, She ſmiling ſaid, Great God of Days / And Verſe; behond my Deed; and ſing my Praiſe.

   1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Henry and Emma, […]”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 271

4. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of sky blue.

   But yet methinks, thoſe knots of Sky, do not / So well with the dead colour of her Face.

   1667 March 12 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, Secret-Love, or The Maiden-Queen: […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1668, →OCLC, Act III, page 26

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   [W]hy, / Brother, I have beſpoke Dinner, and engag'd / Mr. Rake-hell, the little ſmart Gentleman I have / Often promis'd thee to make thee acquainted / Withal, to bring a whole Bevy of Damſels / In Sky, and Pink, and Flame-colour'd Taffeta's.

   1668, George Etherege, She Wou’d if She Cou’d, a Comedy. […], London: […] [John Macocke] for H[enry] Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 39

5. theoretical physicsmathematicsThe set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.

   Synonyms: celestial sphere

6. informalobsoleterareIn an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
7. obsoleteA cloud.First known use 13th–16th c.

present singular third person skies · participle present skying · participle past skied · past skied · participle past skyed · past skyed

1. informaltransitiveTo drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.
2. datedinformaltransitiveTo hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.

   The artists—I mean the younger brood, and not the Brother Academicians who "skied" his pictures—were the first and the most enthusiastic in his [George Fuller's] praise.

   1883 December, M[ariana] G[riswold] Van Rensselaer, “George Fuller”, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume V (New Series; volume XXVII overall), number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.; London: F[rederick] Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 227, column 1

   Antonyms: floor

3. datedslangtransitiveTo toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).

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   In ‘skying’ a coin for the purpose of deciding a point at issue between two parties, two methods are in vogue: there is either the ‘slow torture’ of spinning the coin thrice, the decision to go against the tosser-up, if the other party, twice out of the three times, guesses right on which side the coin shall fall; or, the ‘sudden death’ method in which one toss is decisive; […]

   1894, C[ornelis] Stoffel, “Preface”, in Studies in English, Written and Spoken: For the Use of Continental Students (First Series), Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands: W. J. Thieme & Co.; London: Luzac & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page IX

4. transitivehobbiesTo clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
5. transitiveball gamesTo hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.

   Hernandez [i.e., Félix Hernández] walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3–1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.

   2009 September 8, Geoff Baker, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in The Seattle Times, Seattle, Wash.: The Seattle Times Company, published 29 November 2012, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2021

6. transitiveball gamesTo miss a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar.

   He laid on the two best chances, both wasted by Pratt, who skied one and stubbed his toe on the other.

   1977, Tom Stoppard, 42:41 from the start, in Professional Foul

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   Van Persie [i.e., Robin van Persie] skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.

   2011 January 22, Tim Love, “Arsenal 3 – 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2021

7. obsoletetransitiveTo raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.

   All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.

   1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “The Wreck of the ‘Flying Scud’”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 146

8. intransitiveTo move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
9. intransitiveball gamesTo hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
10. intransitivehobbiesTo raise an oar too high above the water.

plural skies

1. UKobsoleteslangWestminster SchoolA disagreeable person; an enemy.

1. A surname.
2. A unisex given name from English.

   The bad thing was she took my son Skiff with her. It's a dumb name I know, but at the time he was born all the kids were being called things like Sky and Saffron and Powie, and I was really sold on sailing.

   1981, William Boyd, On the Yankee Station, Hamilton,, →ISBN, page 17

1. obsoleteObsolete form of Skye (“Scottish island”).

   A strange instance of something of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was in the isle of Sky.

   1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson