skit
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Old Norse skjúta (“to shoot, dart, move quickly”), variant of skjóta. Compare flytja (“to move”). Alternately, perhaps a back-formation from skittish, which in turn may derive from Old Norse or another North Germanic language.
Inflected forms:
form: skits
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: skits
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: skitting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: skitted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: skitted
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A short comic performance done by amateurs.
pos: noun
gloss: A jeer or sally; a brief satire.
pos: noun
examples: That is a mere skit compared with this strange performance.
gloss: A wanton girl; a wench.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie—did actually solicit me, did actually say 'coming home to-night, dearie' and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.
gloss: A short, sharp shower (of rain).
pos: noun
examples: ... there come on a 'skit' of rain, and I made for one of his barns for shelter.
Suddenly there came a little volley of sharp drops - not of the liquid he desired - dashed into the trumpeter's red face , and against the back of the parson's hat - the first skit of rain, that seemed rather to rise as if from a blow-pipe, than fall from the clouds.
Diana did not obey him, but stood in the rain. 'I don't care for a skit of rain.' 'Get in, quick.' When she did not move he sprang up, and catching her up in his arms, set her down in the hollow.
gloss: Diarrhea, in livestock; the scour.
pos: noun
examples: The Cause and Nature of the Skit, or Scour, of Sheep and Lambs.
[…] quality in the seeds which he cannot account for, that of killing lambs at about ten days old; they die of the skit, or scouring; and it is particularly experienced in new inclosures; […]
... the "skit." A practised eye can generally tell for two or three days before it commences what is coming on. The lambs look dull, their coats are staring. Generally the scour is of a dark greenish colour - sometimes almost[…]
... lambs, and on the appearance of the skit or scour, the necessity for a change of food is indicated.
gloss: To make fun of.
pos: verb
tags: Ireland
Merseyside
transitive
gloss: To caper; to skip or run lightly and quickly.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
regional
examples: Yet soon's she hears me mention Muirland Willie, / She skits an' flings like ony towmont filly- […]
The big man stood across, as if to hide the cart; but the man behind the horse skitted back into a bush, very nimble and clever, but not quite smart enough.
I could feel her eyes skitting over to me after she said something that might have shocked me - but I stayed quiet.
Micah watched the cloudcast shadows skitting over the snowfields before him – then screwed his face up in surprise when some of them seemed to come to a halt. He looked up. The clouds were still moving , and when he looked back at the plains he realized that the motionless grey shapes were not shadows at all.
Related words: skittish
Derived words: blackout skit
Translations: