skittle

Meanings

1. One of the wooden targets used in skittles.

1. To play skittles.
2. (with down) To squander one's money.
3. (sometimes with out) To rapidly bowl out a succession of batsmen.
4. To defeat easily.
5. To knock down (skittles).

Etymology

Origin unknown. Perhaps of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse skutill (“bolt, harpoon”), related to skjóta (“to shoot”), but the OED dismisses this connection as conjecture. The Old Norse word is related to Swedish and Danish skyttel (“shuttle, child's toy”). Compare also Old English sċytel (“a dart, bolt”). More at shuttle.