DEFINITIONS
The
2019 WORD
OF THE YEAR is...

skillion

[ skil-yuh n ]
/ ˈskɪl yən /

noun Australian.

a lean-to serving as a room or a shed.

Words nearby skillion

skilled labor, skilless, skillet, skillful, skilling, skillion, skilly, skim, skim milk, skim off, skim-read

Origin of skillion

1860–65; alteration of skilling, orig. dial. (S England), Middle English skyling; sense suggests kinship with dial. scale hut, shed (< Old Norse skāli; cf. shiel), but phonetic development obscure; see -ing3
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for skillion

  • Next day I found one of the skillion rooms scrubbed out and a bed fixed up for me.

    Joe Wilson and His Mates|Henry Lawson

  • I put the other horses back in the yard, the saddles in the skillion, got on my horse and rode off.

    Children of the Bush|Henry Lawson

  • Jack Drew camped in a skillion room behind his printing office, and had his meals at the Royal.

    Over the Sliprails|Henry Lawson

  • I noticed the storm had taken a sheet of iron off the skillion, and supposed he'd sleep at the Royal that night.

    Over the Sliprails|Henry Lawson

British Dictionary definitions for skillion

skillion
/ (ˈskɪlɪən) /

noun

Australian
  1. a part of a building having a lower, esp sloping, roof; lean-to
  2. (as modifier)a skillion roof

Word Origin for skillion

C19: from English dialect skilling outhouse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012