skilly

skilly

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskɪli/
• Rhymes: -ɪli

Etymology 1

Shortening.

Noun

skilly (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, nautical) Skillygalee.
   • 1903 Jack London, The People of the Abyss, Macmillan

     “I would be given for supper six ounces of bread and ‘three parts of skilly.’ ‘Three parts’ means three-quarters of a pint, and ‘skilly’ is a fluid concoction of three quarts of oatmeal stirred into three buckets and a half of hot water.”

Etymology 2

From Middle English skylly, skily, equivalent to skill +‎ -y.

Adjective

skilly (comparative more skilly, superlative most skilly)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Skilled, skilful.
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 80:

     So, being a fell impatient man, and skilly with his hands, he took Sam Gourlay a clout in the lug that couped him down in the stour […]