skookum
Americanadjective
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large; powerful; impressive.
-
excellent; first-rate.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of skookum
1825–35, < Chinook Jargon: strong, powerful < Lower Chehalis (Salishan language of the Washington coast) skwəkwə́m ghost, spirit, monster (hence, apparently “fearsome” > “powerful” in Chinook Jargon)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Northwest look as handsome and healthy as skookum apples.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was the regulation fishnet draped around, and some pieces of tin armor and plaster casts, which proves as well as a court affidavit that here's where the real, sure-fire skookum creative genius holds forth.
From On With Torchy by Lincoln, Foster
I'll bet he's going to make me a skookum skipper.
From Cappy Ricks Or, the Subjugation of Matt Peasley by Kyne, Peter B. (Peter Bernard)
"Here, take the axe, shinny up the hill, and lug me down some skookum dry wood."
From A Daughter of the Snows by London, Jack
"Ha-a-lo put um in skookum box," he declared positively.
From The Land of Strong Men by Chisholm, A. M. (Arthur Murray)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
