Link Centre Dictionary

skin

UK/skɪn/ US/ˈskɪn/ common slang uk us

noun

1.

a natural protective covering of the body; site of the sense of touch

  • “your skin is the largest organ of your body”
2.

the tissue forming the hard outer layer (of e.g. a fruit)

Synonyms
3.

an outer surface (usually thin)

  • “the skin of an airplane”
4.
5.

a person''s skin regarded as their life

  • “he tried to save his skin”
6.

the rind of a fruit or vegetable

Synonyms
7.

a bag serving as a container for liquids; it is made from the skin of an animal

verb

1.
2.

bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of

  • “The boy skinned his knee when he fell”
Synonyms
3.

remove the bark of a tree

Synonyms
4.

strip the skin off

  • “pare apples”
Synonyms
5.

strike against an object

  • “She stubbed her one”
  • “s broken”

Origin

From Middle English skyn, skinn, from Old English scinn, from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, from Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to split off”), nasal variant of *skeh₁i-d- (“to cut”). Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”), from which derives hide. Cognate with Dutch schinde (“bark”), dialectal German Schinde (“fruit peel”); also Breton skant (“scales”), Old Irish cenn (“covering, shell”), Irish scáin (“to tear, burst”), Latin scindō (“to split, divide”), Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “to split”).

Phrases

  • all skin and bones
  • beauty is only skin deep
  • bronzed skin disease
  • brown-point shield skin longirostris
  • butterfly skin
  • by the skin of one's teeth
  • chicken skin
  • chronic skin-picking
  • skin someone alive
  • skin the cat
  • skin the lamb
  • skin up

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.