Sekirov Dictionary

skeleton

UK /ˈskɛlɪtən/US /ˈskɛlətən/

noun 14
verb 2
forms 4
phrases 4

noun14

•
The system that provides support to an organism, where in vertebrates it is internal and consists of bones and cartilage, and 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
A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
•
The network of veins in a leaf.
- Rather than abstracting the leaf from the outline of the leaf, I can begin by working from the skeleton of the leaf. — 2010
•
(figurative) The central core of something that gives shape to the entire structure; an outline of a longer project.
- The skeleton of the organisation is essentially the same as it was ten years ago, but many new faces have come and gone.
- I've written three stories. Well, one is a skeleton, but the other two are mostly complete.
•
An anthropomorphic representation of a skeleton.
- Her whimsical Halloween decorations include dancing skeletons who sing an eerie song.
•
(figurative) A very thin person.
- She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.
[before a noun] A minimum or bare essentials.
A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first.
The form of toboggan used in this sport.
Clipping of skeleton in the closet (“a shameful secret”).
•
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’.
The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.
A very thin form of light-faced type.
A full subcategory of another category, consisting of one object from each isomorphism class in the original.

verb2

(no longer used) To reduce to a skeleton; to skin; to skeletonize.
(no longer used) To minimize.

forms

skeletoned · skeletoning · skeletons · skeleta

Phrases with skeleton

This dictionary works without the internet: on your phone · in Chrome