sky

Alternative forms

• skie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sky, from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją, *skiwô (“cloud, cloud cover, haze”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew- (“to cover, hide, cloud”). Cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish cēo (“sky”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). Also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also English hide, hut, house, hose, shoe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skaɪ/, enPR: skī

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: Sky, Skye

Noun

sky (plural skies)

1. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the ground during the day.

   That year, a meteor fell from the sky.

2. The part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its condition, climate etc.

   I lay back under a warm Texas sky.

   We're not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter II:

     She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

3. Heaven.

   This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.

4. Ellipsis of sky blue
5. (obsolete) A cloud.

Verb

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skying, simple past and past participle skied or skyed)

1. (sports) To hit, kick or throw (a ball) extremely high.
   • 2009 September 8, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in Seattle Times‎:

     Hernandez walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3-1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.

   • 2011 January 22, Ian Hughes, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC‎:

     Van Persie skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.

2. (colloquial, dated) To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot be well seen.
   • The Century

     Brother Academicians who skied his pictures.

3. (colloquial) To drink something from a container without one's lips touching the container.

Anagrams

• KYS, YKS, kys

Etymology 1

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwe, schū.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse ský.

Etymology 3

From French jus, from Latin ius (“gravy, broth, sauce”).

Etymology 4

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwen.

References

• “sky” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “sky,2” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “sky,3” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “sky,4” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German schuwe

Etymology 2

From Old Norse ský

Etymology 3

Possibly from Middle Low German schuwen

References

• “sky” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃyː/

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German schuwe

Etymology 2

From Old Norse ský. Akin to English sky.

Etymology 3

Possibly from Middle Low German schuwen

References

• “sky” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją.

Noun

skȳ n

1. cloud
2. sky

Etymology

From Old Norse ský.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [skaɪ]

Noun

sky (plural skies)

1. sky

   It's a fair braw sky we'v got the nicht. It's quite a beautiful sky we've got tonight.

2. daylight (especially at dawn)

   A wis up afore the sky. I was up before sunrise.

3. skyline, outline against the sky (especially of a hill)

   He saw the sky o a hill awa tae the west. He saw the outline of a hill in the west.

Verb

sky (third-person singular present skies, present participle skies, past skyin, past participle skiet)

1. (of weather) to clear up
2. to shade the eyes with the hand (so as to see better)
3. to hold up to the light and examine

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɧyː/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish skȳ, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją, compare English sky.

Etymology 2

From the French jus.

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German schǖwen.