Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for skean. Search instead for skeanes.
Synonyms

skean

American  
[skeen, skee-uhn] / skin, ˈski ən /
Also skene

noun

  1. a knife or dagger formerly used in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands.


skean British  
/ skiːn /

noun

  1. a kind of double-edged dagger formerly used in Ireland and Scotland

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of skean

1520–30; < Scots Gaelic sgian or Irish scian

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.

See Examples For:

He described the defeat as "the night of long skean dhus".

From BBC Jun. 2, 2015

Last week at 98 he was the oldest Highland chieftain, with tasseled sporran and a jeweled skean dhus dirk in his stocking.

From Time Magazine Archive

I got up and kicked the fallen skean toward him.

From The Door Through Space by Bradley, Marion Zimmer

"Tyr-owen!" yelled Brian, and dropping his sword, but holding his skean firmly, he hurdled the stern-walk railing and leaped.

From Nuala O'Malley by Bedford-Jones, H.

Their fronts are hidden by hangings of tartan cloth; the windows are decked with sporrans, dirks, cairngorm plaid-brooches, ram's-head snuff-boxes, bullocks' horns and skean dhus.

From Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places by Forbes, Archibald

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training