sky

American  

[skahy] / skaɪ /

noun

• skies
  plural

1. the region of the clouds or the upper air; the upper atmosphere of the earth.

   airplanes in the sky; cloudy skies.

2. the heavens or firmament, appearing as a great arch or vault.

3. the supernal or celestial heaven.

   They looked to the sky for help.

4. the climate.

   the sunny skies of Italy.

5. Obsolete. a cloud.

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verb (used with object)

• skies,
  present (3rd person singular)
• skied,
  past participle,  past
• skyed,
  past participle,  past
• skying
  present participle

1. Informal. to raise, throw, or hit aloft or into the air.

2. Informal. to hang (a painting) high on a wall, above the line of vision.

verb phrase

1. sky up (of prey, when flushed) to fly straight upward.

idioms

1. to the skies, with lavishness or enthusiasm; extravagantly: Also to the sky

   to praise someone to the skies.

2. out of a / the clear sky, without advance notice or warning; abruptly: Also out of athe clear blue sky

   An old beau phoned her out of a clear sky.

sky British  

/ skaɪ /

noun

1. (sometimes plural) the apparently dome-shaped expanse extending upwards from the horizon that is characteristically blue or grey during the day, red in the evening, and black at night

2. outer space, as seen from the earth

3. (often plural) weather, as described by the appearance of the upper air

   sunny skies

4. the source of divine power; heaven

5. informal the highest level of attainment

   the sky's the limit

6. highly; extravagantly

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verb

1. rowing to lift (the blade of an oar) too high before a stroke

2. informal (tr) to hit (a ball) high in the air

sky Scientific  

/ skī /

1. The atmosphere, as seen from a given point on the Earth's surface. The sky appears to be blue because the wavelengths associated with blue light are scattered more easily than those that are associated with the other colors.

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sky More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing sky

• blow sky-high
• out of a clear blue sky
• pie in the sky
• reach for the sky

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• skyless
  adjective
• skylike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• skies
  plural

Participles

• skying
  present
• skied
  past
• skyed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sky
  simple
• skies
  simple
• have skied
  perfect
• have skyed
  perfect
• has skied
  perfect
• has skyed
  perfect
• am skying
  progressive
• are skying
  progressive
• is skying
  progressive
• have been skying
  perfect progressive
• has been skying
  perfect progressive

Past

• skied
  simple
• skyed
  simple
• had skied
  perfect
• had skyed
  perfect
• was skying
  progressive
• were skying
  progressive
• had been skying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sky
  simple
• will have skied
  perfect
• will have skyed
  perfect
• will be skying
  progressive
• will have been skying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sky

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Old Norse skȳ “cloud,” cognate with Old English scēo “cloud”

Explanation

Want to see the sky? Go outside and look up! That’s assuming you’re not on Mars, of course. Everything you see above the surface of the Earth is the sky. Astronomers use the term "celestial sphere" for the sky. It's the space that includes everything we can see from our earthbound perspective, including clouds, stars, the sun, and the moon. If your uncle takes you out for ice cream and says, "The sky's the limit!" he means that there is no limit at all—you can order anything, even an enormous banana split.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sky skies skied skyed skying

Roman's attitude control system first points the spacecraft toward the correct area of the sky.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Fire officials had also failed to take advantage of satellite imagery after strong winds grounded their typical eyes in the sky, aircraft.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

The two F-16Vs, made by US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, touched down under a clear sky at Taiwan's air force base in Taitung, on the island's southeast coast.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

Another, in a blue tunic that echoes the sky, scatters wheat seeds in the new furrows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

My voice doesn’t harness the power of raging rivers or split the sky in half, like all the Black poets promised it would.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

The cloudless skies made every pop-up an adventure and the warm, dense air reduced drag, allowing batted balls to travel farther.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

DELHI—As an aviator, Smit Machchhar had piloted through an in-flight birth, turbulent monsoon skies and a high-wire landing in Greece that stretched his skills to the limit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

The region is also closing its skies to Tehran by suspending flights.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

This means that despite the warmth in the September sun, we are getting some cooler nights under clear skies.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Looming through the tall windows along the back wall, dark skies were crammed with nimbus clouds.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

And that proved the decisive moment as Helm dismissed Ajaz Patel and Tom Scriven skied Naavya Sharma straight up, with captain Ben Geddes taking the winning catch.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

He claimed that Paltrow skied out of control and slammed into him, causing four broken ribs and permanent brain damage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

One sweep too many at Usman resulted in a skied top-edge.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Horning, an 82-year-old real estate mogul who skied in jeans, buys his shirts at Costco and cuts his own hair, has his own name for what Telluride has become.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026

A jar of peanut butter had crashed to the floor; someone had gotten a running start, jumped into it, and skied a brown, onefooted track to the stove.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

The picture was received, but was "skyed," that is, placed so high that nobody could well see it.

From Lives of Girls Who Became Famous by Sarah Knowles Bolton

Frederic M. DuMond's "Sea Carvings" in the corner, and Nahl's decorative composition attract, each in its way, while in another corner a badly skyed portrait by Hinkle is scarcely given a chance.

From The Galleries of the Exposition by Eugen Neuhaus

Making secure her place; Guiding her surely as the worlds through space Do laws sidereal; edicts, thunder-lit, Of skyed eternity, in splendor borne On planetary wings of night and morn.

From An Ode Read August 15, 1907, at the dedication of the monument erected at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in commemoration of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the year sixteen hundred and twenty-three by Madison Julius Cawein

In these fancies Cornelia even had them come to New York, to see her picture in position; it was not on the line, of course, and yet it was not skyed.

From The Coast of Bohemia by William Dean Howells

The third was skyed, but he was admitted to membership.

From Twelve Men by Theodore Dreiser

Moondra castled Samson with his first ball in international cricket, while Hollard took two balls to induce Kishan into skying a chance.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Mexico pushed and pushed, skying one over the goal early in stoppage time among other attempts that caused sighs, and then at five minutes beyond 90 the whole thing collapsed with a rare Saudi counterattack.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2022

Borick, meanwhile, is anywhere and everywhere at all times — diving on the ground for a dig, skying for a kill, delivering a picturesque set or dropping in an ace.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2022

He had 105 yards on six catches, with two receiving touchdowns, by either gliding uncovered up the seams or skying over defenders.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2021

Sure enough there were four cheetahs skying away and playing together about 400 yards off; they came closer and closer, when they stopped about 100 yards off, looking about as if they suspected danger.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale