skainsmate
English
Etymology
Etymology and meaning uncertain. Possibly from skean (“sword”) or skein (“quantity of thread”) + -s- + mate (“companion; comrade; colleague”).
- Sword could imply a companion in arms or a cutthroat; or it may be a euphemism for penis and hence a sexual companion.
- Thread could also mean either a companion in winding thread, possibly a sailor or seamstress, or a sexual metaphor equating sewing with sexual intercourse.
Flirt-gill (“promiscuous woman”) in the same passage suggests a sexual interpretation.
Noun
skainsmate (plural skainsmates)
- (obsolete, derogatory, nonce word) A messmate; a companion.
- (obsolete, derogatory, nonce word) A prostitute.
Quotations
- c. 1591–1595, Shakespeare, William, Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 4, lines 149–151:
- Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his skainsmates.
References
- “skainsmate n.”, in Oxford Reference, accessed 2018-02-20