skellum
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of skellum
1605–15; < Dutch schelm rogue, knave < Middle Low German; cognate with German Schelm rogue, Old High German skelmo, scalmo plague, corpse
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.
Brown is of a generation with my parents, and grew up calling a chimney a lum, an ear a lug, a frog a puddock, and the likes of David Cameron, a sleekit skellum.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2010
Well, Miss Gray, so you have played me a nice little trick, letting that skellum steal my horse.
From Luck at the Diamond Fields by Dalrymple J. Belgrave
Dere he was, an’ dere’s de leopard comin’ for her cubses; but darie ou’ skellum he ain’t done yet.
From Old Hendrik's Tales by Arthur Owen Vaughan
She tauld thee well thou was a skellum.
From Tam O'Shanter by Harry L. Miller
Well, I got into German territory all right, and then a skellum of an officer came along, and commandeered all my mules, and wanted to commandeer me with them for his fool army.
From Greenmantle by John Buchan
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.
