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
His sons and daughters were many, and all good, save for one sidelong skellum, Piet, his second son, who afterwards went to live among the English.
From Vrouw Grobelaar and Her Leading Cases Seventeen Short Stories by Perceval Gibbon
Why now, what would darie ou’ skellum be a-doin’ but doin’ skellum.
From Old Hendrik's Tales by Arthur Owen Vaughan
Now ev'ry sour-mou'd girnin blellum, And Calvin's folk, are fit to fell him; Ilk self-conceited critic skellum His quill may draw; He wha could brawlie ward their bellum— Willie's awa!
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
‘D’ye mean to say I’s a-gun’ to run away f’m a skellum like dat?
From Old Hendrik's Tales by Arthur Owen Vaughan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
