sky

head

sky (neuter sky, plural and definite singular attributive sky)

sky (neuter)
sky (attributive definite singular)
sky (attributive plural)

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwe, schū, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh. Compare English shy and German scheu.


sky

sky c (singular definite skyen, plural indefinite skyer)

skyen (definite singular)
skyer (indefinite plural)
sky (indefinite nominative singular)
skyen (definite nominative singular)
skyer (indefinite nominative plural)
skyerne (definite nominative plural)
skys (genitive indefinite singular)
skyens (definite genitive singular)
skyers (genitive indefinite plural)
skyernes (definite genitive plural)

From Old Danish sky, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).


sky

head

sky c (singular definite skyen, not used in plural form)

From French jus, from Latin iūs (“gravy, broth, sauce”). The Danish word was probably borrowed via German Jus or Schü, pronounced [ˈʃyː], with a regular substitution of German /ʃ/ with Danish /sk/.


sky

sky (imperative sky, present skyr or skyer, past skyede, past participle skyet)

sky (imperative)
skyr (present)
skyer (present)
skyede (past)
skyet (participle past)

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwen, derived from the adjective.


sky

That year, a meteor fell from the sky.

For beſides the groues, / The skyes, the fountaines, euery region neare / Seeme all one mutuall cry. I neuer heard / So muſicall a diſcord, ſuch ſweete thunder.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 40:

[I]f you doe not all ſhew like guilt twoo pences to mee, and I in the cleere skie of Fame, ore-ſhine you as much as the full moone doth the cindars of the element, (which ſhew like pinnes heads to her) beleeue not the worde of the noble: […]

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

[I]f you do not all appear like gilt twopences [i.e., counterfeit coins] next to me, and I, in the clear sky of fame, outshine you as much as the full moon outshines the cinders of the element [i.e., the stars] (which look like pinheads next to the moon), then don't believe me: […]

[A] Nobler Sir, ne're liu'd / 'Twixt sky and ground.

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 396, column 1:

I went with some of my relations to Court, to shew them his Maᵗⁱᵉˢ cabinet and closset of rarities; […] Here I saw […] amongst the clocks, one that shew'd the rising and setting of the Sun in yᵉ Zodiaq, the Sunn represented by a face and raies of gold, upon an azure skie, observing yᵉ diurnal and annual motion, rising and setting behind a landscape of hills, the work of our famous Fromantel; and severall other rarities.

1660 November 11 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 1 November 1660]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 327:

[T]he cunning Leach ordains / In Summer's Sultry Heats (for then it reigns) / To feed the Females, e're the Sun ariſe, / Or late at Night, when Stars adorn the Skies.

1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 103, lines 245–248:

Through the large Convex of the Azure Sky, / (For thither Nature caſts our common Eye) / Fierce Meteors ſhoot their arbitrary Light, / And Comets march with lawleſs Horror bright; […]

1700, Mat[thew] Prior, “Carmen Seculare, for the Year 1700. To the King.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 164:

A length of Ocean and unbounded sky, / Which ſcarce the Sea-fowl in a year o'erfly […]

1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 120, lines 411–412:

There is madness about thee, and joy divine / In that song of thine; / Up with me, up with me, high and high, / To thy banqueting-place in the sky!

1807, William Wordsworth, “To a Sky-lark”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, page 81:

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 154–155:

So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:

Blue skies / Smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies / Do I see

1926, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Blue Skies”:

The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

I lay back under a warm Texas sky.

We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.

Yon ancient prude, whoſe wither'd features ſhow / She might be young ſome forty years ago, / […] / With boney and unkerchief'd neck defies / The rude inclemency of wintry ſkies, / And ſails with lappet-head and mincing airs / Duely at clink of bell, to morning pray'rs.

1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 80:

All in a hot and copper sky / The bloody sun at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the moon.

1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC, part II, stanza 7, page 13:

[T]he stars / Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west / The orange sky of evening died away.

1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book I. Introduction.—Childhood and School-time.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 21:

With that sharp sound the white dawn's creeping beams, / Stol'n to my brain, dissolved the mystery / Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams / Ruled in the eastern sky.

1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza LXVII, page 201:

But now shine on, and what care I, / Who in this stormy gulf have found a pearl / The counterclaim of space and hollow sky, […]

1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, pages 58–59:

She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter II (Burglary), page 378, column 1:

With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.

Now am I dead, now am I fled, my ſoule is in the sky.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphære, / So maist thou be tranſlated to the skies, / And give reſounding grace to all Heav'ns Harmonies.

1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 9:

Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combuſtion down / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durſt defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 44-49:

The Gods to live in Woods have left the Skies.

1697, Virgil, “The Second Pastoral. Or, Alexis.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 8, line 86:

Mars ſmil'd and bow'd, the Cyprian Deity / Turn'd to the glorious Ruler of the Sky: / And Thou, She ſmiling ſaid, Great God of Days / And Verſe; behond my Deed; and ſing my Praiſe.

1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Henry and Emma, […]”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 271:

The gazing Gods lean forward from the Sky: / To whom, while eager on the Chace they look, / The Sire of Mortals and Immortals ſpoke.

1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XXII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 13, lines 218–220:

By the just vengeance of incensed skies, / Poor bishop Judas late repenting dies.

1731, Jonathan Swift, “Judas”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 113:

(chiefly literary and poetic, archaic) Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

But yet methinks, thoſe knots of Sky, do not / So well with the dead colour of her Face.

1667 March 12 (first performance), John Dryden, Secret-Love, or The Maiden-Queen: […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 26:

[W]hy, / Brother, I have beſpoke Dinner, and engag'd / Mr. Rake-hell, the little ſmart Gentleman I have / Often promis'd thee to make thee acquainted / Withal, to bring a whole Bevy of Damſels / In Sky, and Pink, and Flame-colour'd Taffeta's.

1668, George Etherege, She Wou’d if She Cou’d, a Comedy. […], London: […] [John Macocke] for H[enry] Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 39:

(mathematics, theoretical physics) The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.

(obsolete, informal, rare) In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make lofty ships carry low sails

mackerel sky and mare's-tails make tall ships carry low sails

ажәҩан

[script needed] (asa-nmänah) [script needed]

qiell

the abode of God or the gods, etc. — see also heaven

wà

clearer sky with no clouds or equivalent to blue sky.

небе́сная сфе́ра

set of all lightlike lines passing through a given point in space-time

The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

nb...

schi, schie, schye, sci, scki, scky, scy, skei, skiʒe, skiȝe, sky, skye, (Early Middle English) skige

cog

Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)

der

Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”)

cog

Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”)


sky

(informal) To drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.

The artists—I mean the younger brood, and not the Brother Academicians who "skied" his pictures—were the first and the most enthusiastic in his [George Fuller's] praise.

1883 December, M[ariana] G[riswold] Van Rensselaer, “George Fuller”, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume V (New Series; volume XXVII overall), number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.; London: F[rederick] Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 227, column 1:

(informal, dated) To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.

In ‘skying’ a coin for the purpose of deciding a point at issue between two parties, two methods are in vogue: there is either the ‘slow torture’ of spinning the coin thrice, the decision to go against the tosser-up, if the other party, twice out of the three times, guesses right on which side the coin shall fall; or, the ‘sudden death’ method in which one toss is decisive; […]

1894, C[ornelis] Stoffel, “Preface”, in Studies in English, Written and Spoken: For the Use of Continental Students (First Series), Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands: W. J. Thieme & Co.; London: Luzac & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page IX:

(slang, dated) To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).

To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.

Hernandez [i.e., Félix Hernández] walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3–1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.

2009 September 8, Geoff Baker, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in The Seattle Times, Seattle, Wash.: The Seattle Times Company, published 29 November 2012, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-09-18:

Van Persie [i.e., Robin van Persie] skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.

2011 January 22, Tim Love, “Arsenal 3 – 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2021-03-25:

(ball games) To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.

All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.

1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “The Wreck of the ‘Flying Scud’”, in The Wrecker, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 146:

(obsolete) To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.

To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).

(ball games) To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.

(rowing) To raise an oar too high above the water.

en-verb

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skying, simple past and past participle skied or skyed)

skies (present singular third-person)
skying (participle present)
skied (participle past)
skied (past)
skyed (participle past)
skyed (past)


sky

The atmosphere or sky; that which lies above the ground.

A cloud or mist (mass of water droplets).

(rare, astronomy) A certain layout or part of the sky.

skyes (plural)
ski (alternative)
skie (alternative)
ske (alternative)
skye (alternative)
scki (alternative)
schi (alternative)
schye (alternative)
scy (alternative)
skey (alternative)
skige (alternative)
skiȝe (alternative)
skyȝe (alternative)

English: sky

Scots: sky, skie, skey, ske

Yola: skee

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją. Doublet of skew.


sky

head

sky (neuter singular sky, definite singular and plural sky or skye, comparative skyere, indefinite superlative skyest, definite superlative skyeste)

sky (neuter singular)
sky (definite plural singular)
skye (definite plural singular)
skyere (comparative)
skyest (indefinite superlative)
skyeste (definite superlative)


sky

Det er mange skyer på himmelen.

skya (definite singular)
skyen (definite singular)
skyer (indefinite plural)
skyene (definite plural)

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).


sky

sky (imperative sky, present tense skyr, simple past skydde, past participle skydd, present participle skyende)

sky (imperative)
skyr (present)
skydde (past)
skydd (participle past)
skyende (participle present)


sky

sky (neuter singular sky, definite singular and plural sky or skye, comparative skyare, indefinite superlative skyast, definite superlative skyaste)

sky (neuter singular)
sky (definite plural singular)
skye (definite plural singular)
skyare (comparative)
skyast (indefinite superlative)
skyaste (definite superlative)


sky

skya (definite singular)
skyer (indefinite plural)
skyene (definite plural)

From Old Norse ský. Akin to English sky.


sky

skyr (present)
skydde (past)
skydd (participle past)
skytt (participle past)
skyast (infinitive passive)
skyande (participle present)
sky (imperative)


sky

skȳ (canonical neuter)
neuter
skȳ (indefinite nominative singular)
skȳit (definite nominative singular)
skȳ (indefinite nominative plural)
skȳin (definite nominative plural)
skȳ (accusative indefinite singular)
skȳit (accusative definite singular)
skȳ (accusative indefinite plural)
skȳin (accusative definite plural)
skȳi (dative indefinite singular)
skȳinu (dative definite singular)
skȳeno (dative definite singular)
skȳiom (dative indefinite plural)
skȳiomin (dative definite plural)
skȳiomen (dative definite plural)
skȳs (genitive indefinite singular)
skȳsins (definite genitive singular)
skȳia (genitive indefinite plural)
skȳianna (definite genitive plural)

gmq-osw-decl-blank-full

sky

Swedish: sky

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją.


sky

It's a fair braw sky we'v got the nicht. It's quite a beautiful sky we've got tonight.

A wis up afore the sky. I was up before sunrise.

He saw the sky o a hill awa tae the west. He saw the outline of a hill in the west.

skyline, outline against the sky (especially of a hill)

From Middle English sky, from Old Norse ský.


sky

To shade the eyes with the hand (so as to see better).

head

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skies, simple past skyin, past participle skiet)

skies (present singular third-person)
skies (participle present)
skyin (past)
skiet (participle past)


sky

högt upp i skyn

tunga skyar

lätta skyar

regnskyar

sky (indefinite nominative singular)
skys (genitive indefinite singular)
skyn (definite nominative singular)
skyns (definite genitive singular)
skyar (indefinite nominative plural)
skyars (genitive indefinite plural)
skyarna (definite nominative plural)
skyarnas (definite genitive plural)

From Old Swedish skȳ, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją, compare English sky.


sky

(uncountable, cooking) the liquid that remains in a frying pan after the fried meat is ready

sky (indefinite nominative singular)
skys (genitive indefinite singular)
skyn (definite nominative singular)
skyns (definite genitive singular)


sky

Han skyr inga medel

to avoid (due to fear, disgust, or the like), to shun

sky (present skyr, preterite skydde, supine skytt, imperative sky)

skyr (present)
skydde (preterite)
skytt (supine)
sky (imperative)
sky (active infinitive)
skys (infinitive passive)
skytt (active supine)
skytts (passive supine)
sky (active imperative)
skyn (active archaic)
skyr (active indicative present)
skydde (active indicative past)
skys (indicative passive present)
skyddes (indicative passive past)
sky (active archaic present)
skydde (active archaic past)
skys (archaic passive present)
skyddes (archaic passive past)
sky (active dated present subjunctive)
skydde (active dated past subjunctive)
skys (dated passive present subjunctive)
skyddes (dated passive past subjunctive)
skyende (active participle past present)
skydd (active participle past)

From Middle Low German schǖwen, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *skiuhijan. Compare origin of skygg.