skewer
Americannoun
-
skewers
plural
-
a long pin of wood or metal for inserting through meat or other food to hold or bind it in cooking.
-
any similar pin for fastening or holding an item in place.
verb (used with object)
-
skewers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
skewered,
past participle, past
-
skewering
present participle
noun
-
a long pin for holding meat in position while being cooked, etc
-
a similar pin having some other function
-
chess a tactical manoeuvre in which an attacked man is made to move and expose another man to capture
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
skewersimple
-
skewerssimple
-
have skeweredperfect
-
has skeweredperfect
-
am skeweringprogressive
-
are skeweringprogressive
-
is skeweringprogressive
-
have been skeweringperfect progressive
-
has been skeweringperfect progressive
Past
-
skeweredsimple
-
had skeweredperfect
-
was skeweringprogressive
-
were skeweringprogressive
-
had been skeweringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skewer
First recorded in 1670–80; earlier skiver < ?
Explanation
The pointed wooden stick you use to hold cubes of meat or vegetables together while they're cooking is called a skewer. You can also use a very long skewer to toast marshmallows over a campfire. As a verb, skewer means to push a skewer through food: "Would you skewer those shrimps, and toss them on the grill?" It's also an informal term meaning to criticize someone so harshly that it probably hurts them: "This opinion piece in the newspaper really skewers the President." Experts guess that skewer has a Scandinavian root, possibly the Old Norse skifa, "a cut or slice."
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:
Hunched over sizzling grills and shrouded in smoke, trainees at the Yueyang Barbecue Academy in southern China roast skewer after skewer of succulent beef tendon, perfecting the skills that could land them a restaurant job.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
For decades, Chinese brothers Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang have made a name for themselves with sculptures like this: irreverent contemporary artworks that skewer the authoritarian past, and present, of their native homeland.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2026
And skewer others: the butterfly keyboard, FineWoven cases, walled gardens, Siri and AirPower.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
The play, which is having its Los Angeles premiere at Pasadena Playhouse, seems like it could have been commissioned to skewer this destructive, benighted and completely mortifying anti-science moment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2025
The Grand High Witch whipped round as though someone had stuck a skewer into her bottom.
From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl
For roughly $30 more, the Full Churrasco Experience allows lunchtime diners their fill of over a dozen different cuts of fire-roasted meat like chicken, lamb and beef served on skewers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
The Mibrasa Hibachi Table Top Grill is portable, maintains a fire for hours and makes grilling skewers, vegetables and even steaks feel like part of the entertainment.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
When you get hungry, take a quick walk to Checker Hall, a neighborhood bar and restaurant that serves California-Mediterranean food such as skewers, turkish chicken and chicken schnitzel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
Nearby, a man fanned skewers sizzling on a barbecue grill while a couple played badminton and retirees sang cheerfully on a park bench.
From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026
I got chicken on wooden skewers and brought it back to the table wrapped in wax paper.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
For that, Kelly was skewered on stage by Ben Shapiro, who incidentally was responsible for giving Owens her first podcast at the Daily Wire.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
"Customers understand that it's a luxury dish," chef Tomoyuki Takashino said from behind the stove as he skewered an eel he had just killed and filleted.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
On a podcast a few months after her paid posts for Hers, she skewered the medical profession for pushing antidepressants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2025
Rebellious colonists skewered British taxation policies, military blunders and parliamentary pomposities through plays, songs and cartoons that rallied others to the cause of independence and made mass mobilization fun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2025
He was skewered by the eyes of strangers no longer.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Tune into a sharp new TV show: The creators of The Good Wife and The Good Fight have spent years skewering Big Tech.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2026
In the classroom, trainees crowded around instructor Luo Duocheng as he demonstrated slicing a slab of beef, marinating it, and skewering the meat to form identical kebabs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Which brings us back to satire falling victim to the world it is skewering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
Adams drew on his experience as a bank teller and manager at a phone company Pacific Bell for inspiration, skewering corporate jargon and middle management.
From Salon ● Jan. 13, 2026
The medium began to stalk around the clearing, skewering the villagers with his gaze.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
