skelp
1 Americannoun
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a slap, smack, or blow, especially one given with the open hand.
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the sound of such a slap or smack.
verb (used with object)
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to slap, smack, or strike (someone), especially on the buttocks; spank.
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to drive (animals) by slapping or goading them.
noun
verb
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of skelp1
1350–1400; Middle English; probably imitative
Origin of skelp2
First recorded in 1805–15; perhaps special use of skelp 1
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.
David Narey's famous skelp to put Scotland one up against Brazil in 1982 was the exact point at which the rot set in.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 7, 2010
I. Contented wi’ little, and cantie wi’ mair, Whene’er I forgather wi’ sorrow end care, I gie them a skelp, as they’re creepin alang, Wi’ a cog o’ guid swats, and an auld Scottish sang.
From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Burns, Robert
It was not every man, he proudly asserted, who could receive and survive a skelp o' the Deil's tail!
From A Golfing Idyll or The Skipper's Round with the Deil On the Links of St. Andrews by Flint, Violet
How it must go ag'in the grain with 'em to take a skelp when it comes in the way of dooty!
From Overland by De Forest, J. W. (John William)
So soople, he could gi'e a skelp wi't, Could licht his pipe, or pick his teeth wi't; And at his pleasure, short or lang, It telescoped up to the stang.
From A Golfing Idyll or The Skipper's Round with the Deil On the Links of St. Andrews by Flint, Violet
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.
