sky
[skahy]
- the region of the clouds or the upper air; the upper atmosphere of the earth: airplanes in the sky; cloudy skies.
- the heavens or firmament, appearing as a great arch or vault.
- the supernal or celestial heaven: They looked to the sky for help.
- the climate: the sunny skies of Italy.
- Obsolete. a cloud.
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- Informal. to raise, throw, or hit aloft or into the air.
- Informal. to hang (a painting) high on a wall, above the line of vision.
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- sky up, Falconry. (of prey, when flushed) to fly straight upward.
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- out of a/the clear sky, without advance notice or warning; abruptly: An old beau phoned her out of a clear sky.Also out of a/the clear blue sky.
- to the skies, with lavishness or enthusiasm; extravagantly: to praise someone to the skies.Also to the sky.
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Origin of sky
1175–1225; Middle English < Old Norse skȳ cloud, cognate with Old English scēo cloud
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sky
Contemporary Examples
Where these laser-like missiles are falling out of the sky onto a city and you have to stop each of them from hitting the targets?
Coffee Talk with Ethan Hawke: On ‘Boyhood,’ Jennifer Lawrence, and Bill Clinton’s Urinal ExchangeMarlow Stern
December 27, 2014
“At least it keeps the mosquitoes away,” one of my table-mates said, as we watched the swooshes of smoke waft into the Havana sky.
Rob Marshall lets a sigh of relief erupt so loud it could be heard by giants in the sky.
The sky is not the limit; beliefs still must be sincere and connected to some for-real source.
Especially not when the display in question includes an angel falling from the sky in flames, surrounded by Biblical verses.
Historical Examples
They were fabled as seven sisters, and one lost her place in the sky by marrying a mortal.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
They made maps of the sky and they discovered the first five planets.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
He went on until the sun was low in the west and all the sky was rimmed with color.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
Oceans and land and sky are avenues for our colossal commerce.
Dick turned to the window, and stared at the mellow evening sky.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
sky
- (sometimes plural) the apparently dome-shaped expanse extending upwards from the horizon that is characteristically blue or grey during the day, red in the evening, and black at nightRelated adjectives: celestial, empyrean
- outer space, as seen from the earth
- (often plural) weather, as described by the appearance of the upper airsunny skies
- the source of divine power; heaven
- informal the highest level of attainmentthe sky's the limit
- to the skies highly; extravagantly
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- rowing to lift (the blade of an oar) too high before a stroke
- (tr) informal to hit (a ball) high in the air
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Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse skӯ; related to Old English scio cloud, Old Saxon skio, Old Norse skjār transparent skin
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
Word Origin and History for sky
n.
c.1200, "a cloud," from Old Norse sky "cloud," from Proto-Germanic *skeujam "cloud, cloud cover" (cf. Old English sceo, Old Saxon scio "cloud, region of the clouds, sky;" Old High German scuwo, Old English scua, Old Norse skuggi "shadow;" Gothic skuggwa "mirror"), from PIE root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see hide (n.1)).
Meaning "upper regions of the air" is attested from c.1300; replaced native heofon in this sense (see heaven). In Middle English, the word can still mean both "cloud" and "heaven," as still in the skies, originally "the clouds." Sky-high is from 1812; phrase the sky's the limit is attested from 1908. Sky-dive first recorded 1965; sky-writing is from 1922.
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v.
"to raise or throw toward the skies," 1802, from sky (n.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
sky
[skī]
- The atmosphere, as seen from a given point on the Earth's surface. The sky appears to be blue because the wavelengths associated with blue light are scattered more easily than those that are associated with the other colors.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with sky
sky
In addition to the idiom beginning with sky
, also see
- blow sky-high
- out of a clear blue sky
- pie in the sky
reach for the sky.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.