skeleton

The system that provides support to an organism, internal and made up of bones and cartilage in vertebrates, external in some other animals.

Noun anatomy, medicine

  1. The system that provides support to an organism, internal and made up of bones and cartilage in vertebrates, external in some other animals.
    • At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. - 1881–1882, Robert Louis...
  2. An anthropomorphic representation of a skeleton.
    • She dressed up as a skeleton for Halloween.
    • A Day or two after they parted, [Francis] Spriggs was choſe Captain by the reſt, and a black Enſign was made, which they called Jolly Roger, with the ſame Device that Captain [Edward] Low carried, viz. a white Skeliton...
  3. A very thin person.
    • She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.
  4. The central core of something that gives shape to the entire structure.
    • The skeleton of the organisation is essentially the same as it was ten years ago, but many new faces have come and gone.
  5. A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
  6. A client-helper procedure that communicates with a stub.
    • In remote method invocation, the client helper is a ‘stub’ and the service helper is a ‘skeleton’.

    Coordinate Terms: stub

  7. The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.
  8. A full subcategory of another category, consisting of one object from each isomorphism class in the original.
  9. A very thin form of light-faced type.
  10. A minimum or bare essentials.
    • At the time of writing the halts have been reprieved due to doubts as to the legality of the withdrawal of services. It is feared that this reprieve may not outlast the summer timetable which, on the section in...
    • The rail industry has survived the first fortnight of the UK's COVID-19 crisis. Quick intervention from the Department of Transport has ensured that franchise operators will remain solvent during this period; rapid work...
  11. The network of veins in a leaf.
    • However interesting the skeleton of a leaf that has been bleached by nature may be, it cannot be alleged to be beautiful in colour, and therefore it is not of much value for the purposes of household decoration. - 1870,...
    • Rather than abstracting the leaf from the outline of the leaf, I can begin by working from the skeleton of the leaf. - 2010, Ruth B. McDowell, Piecing: Expanding The Basics:
    • This is going to get rid of all the green leafy debris sticking to the skeleton of the leaf and you are going to find a really attractive fiber network of your leaf. - 2016, Dueep Jyot Singh, John Davidson, Mendon...
  12. Clipping of skeleton in the closet (“a shameful secret”).

Origin

From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).

Forms

skeletons skeleta sceleton

Synonyms

ottomy skellington backbone skeleton

Related

:Category:Skeleton

Derived

articulated skeleton autoskeleton carboskeleton choanoskeleton chondroskeleton cilioskeleton cytoskeleton dermatoskeleton dermoskeleton endoskeleton exoskeleton fibroskeleton hydroskeleton hydrostatic skeleton neuroskeleton nucleoskeleton skeletal skeletally skeletogenous skeleton at the feast skeleton bill Skeleton Clique skeleton clique skeleton clock

Noun hobbies, lifestyle

  1. A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first.
    • Lugers, who slide feet first and reach the highest speeds, experience some of the same forces, but seem to suffer far fewer concussion-like symptoms than bobsled and skeleton athletes do, probably because a support...

    Synonyms: skeleton tobogganing skeleton sliding

    Coordinate Terms: luge bobsled

  2. The form of toboggan used in this sport.

Origin

The etymology of the term is disputed between two versions. * From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton. * From Norwegian kjaelke (a type of ice sled) through a bad anglicization as "skele".

Forms

skeletons

Synonyms

skeleton

Related

:Category:Skeleton

Verb

  1. To reduce to a skeleton; to skin; to skeletonize.
  2. To minimize.

Forms

skeletons skeletoning skeletoned sceleton

Related

bone