skiff
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of skiff
1565–75; < early Italian schifo < Old High German scif ship 1
Explanation
A skiff is a small boat. If you decide to purchase a skiff instead of giant yacht, you're probably someone who prefers the quiet, simple life. (Or maybe you just didn’t want to spend the money on a yacht.) A skiff may be powered by oars, sails, or a motor, but in any of these cases, a typical skiff can carry only a few passengers. Skiff originally referred to a small boat attached to a large ship; the skiff would have been used for communication with and transportation to other large ships and the shore. Winslow Homer, a 19th-century American artist, often portrayed skiffs in his depictions of marine scenes.
Vocabulary lists containing skiff
Touching Spirit Bear
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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The Old Man and the Sea
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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.
What are you going to do this weekend, eat a $45 lobster roll and place 7th in a skiff race?
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 2, 2026
People on the smaller vessel, a simple fishing skiff, held up cellphones like emergency flares in the night.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
They departed on Easter Sunday for Pikelot Atoll, about 115 miles away, in a traditional 20-foot skiff with an outboard motor, the Coast Guard added.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2024
They also had recovered their skiff, which sustained damage that rendered it non-functional, and said they needed help getting back to Polowat.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2024
I had taken the heavy oak pole with which I guided my skiff.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
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.
