English Explanatory Dictionary

sky

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.
  2. With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.
  3. Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.
  4. Ellipsis of sky blue.
  5. The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.
  6. In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
  7. A cloud.
verb
  1. To drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.
  2. To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.
  3. To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).
  4. To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
  5. To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.
  6. To miss a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar.
  7. To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.
  8. To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
  9. To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
  10. To raise an oar too high above the water.
noun
  1. A disagreeable person; an enemy.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A unisex given name from English.
name
  1. Obsolete form of Skye (“Scottish island”).

Pronunciation

skī /skaɪ/ En-uk-sky.ogg En-us-sky.ogg

Word forms

sky skies skie skying skied skyed

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”). Partly displaced Old English heofon, which survives in the reflex heaven, still sometimes used in the sense of sky, but usually in high or poetic register. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

Synonyms

blue firmament heaven lift welkin celestial sphere

Antonyms

floor

Related words

Skye

Derived words

aim for the sky Big Sky Country big-sky thinking blow sky high blue-sky blue sky blue sky law blue-sky thinking deep-sky ensky eye in the sky great bit bucket in the sky ice sky is the sky blue Kingdom in the Sky liquid sky mackerel sky mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails Nebra sky disc night-sky night sky no-sky line one-line sky pie-in-the-sky pie in the sky praise to the skies reach for the sky skeet skier sky advertising skyaking sky ball sky bar sky beer skybike sky-blue pink sky blue pink sky-blue sky blue skyboard skybook sky-born skyborne skybound skybox skybridge sky burial skycam skycap sky-clad skyclad skycloth skycraft skycrane skycycle sky daddy sky-dance skydip skydive
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