Learning / English Dictionary |
SKIN
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Irregular inflected forms: skinned , skinning
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Body covering of a living animal
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
body covering (any covering for the body or a body part)
Derivation:
skin (bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An outer surface (usually thin)
Example:
the skin of an airplane
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
surface (the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary)
Holonyms ("skin" is a part of...):
aircraft (a vehicle that can fly)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A bag serving as a container for liquids; it is made from the hide of an animal
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
bag (a flexible container with a single opening)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "skin"):
water skin; waterskin (a container of skin for holding water)
wineskin (an animal skin (usually a goatskin) that forms a bag and is used to hold and dispense wine)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch
Example:
your skin is the largest organ of your body
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
body covering (any covering for the body or a body part)
connective tissue (tissue of mesodermal origin consisting of e.g. collagen fibroblasts and fatty cells; supports organs and fills spaces between them and forms tendons and ligaments)
Meronyms (parts of "skin"):
liver spot (a type of skin disease that causes brown spots on the skin)
milium; whitehead (a small whitish lump in the skin due to a clogged sebaceous gland)
blackhead; comedo (a black-tipped plug clogging a pore of the skin)
pore (any small opening in the skin or outer surface of an animal)
scab (the crustlike surface of a healing skin lesion)
freckle; lentigo (a small brownish spot (of the pigment melanin) on the skin)
sudoriferous gland; sweat gland (any of the glands in the skin that secrete perspiration)
crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)
free nerve ending (microscopic sensory nerve endings in the skin that are not connected to any specific sensory receptor)
Pacinian corpuscle (a specialized bulblike nerve ending located in the subcutaneous tissue of the skin; occurs abundantly in the skin of palms and soles and joints and genitals)
macula; macule (a patch of skin that is discolored but not usually elevated; caused by various diseases)
corium; derma; dermis (the deep vascular inner layer of the skin)
pressure point (an area on the skin that is highly sensitive to pressure)
skin cell (any of the cells making up the skin)
cuticle; epidermis (the outer layer of the skin covering the exterior body surface of vertebrates)
Meronyms (substance of "skin"):
melanin (insoluble pigments that account for the color of e.g. skin and scales and feathers)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "skin"):
agnail; hangnail (a loose narrow strip of skin near the base of a fingernail; tearing it produces a painful sore that is easily infected)
cuticle (the dead skin at the base of a fingernail or toenail)
scalp (the skin that covers the top of the head)
foreskin; prepuce (a fold of skin covering the tip of the clitoris)
foreskin; prepuce (a fold of skin covering the tip of the penis)
dewlap (a hanging fold of loose skin on an elderly person's neck)
buff (bare skin)
skin graft (a piece of skin taken from a donor area and surgically grafted at the site of an injury or burn)
thick skin (skin that is very thick (as an elephant or rhinoceros))
investment (outer layer or covering of an organ or part or organism)
Holonyms ("skin" is a part of...):
integumentary system (the skin and its appendages)
Derivation:
skin (bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of)
skinny (of or relating to or resembling skin)
Sense 5
Meaning:
The rind of a fruit or vegetable
Synonyms:
peel; skin
Classified under:
Nouns denoting foods and drinks
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
rind (the natural outer covering of food (usually removed before eating))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "skin"):
jacket (the outer skin of a potato)
banana peel; banana skin (the skin of a banana (especially when it is stripped off and discarded))
lemon peel; lemon rind (the rind of a lemon)
orange peel; orange rind (the rind of an orange)
Holonyms ("skin" is a part of...):
edible fruit (edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh)
Derivation:
skin (strip the skin off)
Sense 6
Meaning:
A person whose head is bald or shaved
Synonyms:
baldhead; baldpate; baldy; skin; skinhead
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Sense 7
Meaning:
A member of any of several British or American groups consisting predominantly of young people who shave their heads; some engage in white supremacist and anti-immigrant activities and this leads to the perception that all skinheads are racist and violent
Synonyms:
skin; skinhead
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
bully; hooligan; roughneck; rowdy; ruffian; tough; yob; yobbo; yobo (a cruel and brutal fellow)
Holonyms ("skin" is a member of...):
bootboys; skinheads (a youth subculture that appeared first in England in the late 1960s as a working-class reaction to the hippies; hair was cropped close to the scalp; wore work-shirts and short jeans (supported by suspenders) and heavy red boots; involved in attacks against Asians and football hooliganism)
Sense 8
Meaning:
A person's skin regarded as their life
Example:
he tried to save his skin
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("skin" is a kind of...):
aliveness; animation; life; living (the condition of living or the state of being alive)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they skin ... he / she / it skins
Past simple: skinned
-ing form: skinning
Sense 1
Meaning:
Example:
pare apples
Synonyms:
pare; peel; skin
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "skin" is one way to...):
strip (remove the surface from)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "skin"):
peel off (peel off the outer layer of something)
flay (strip the skin off)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
The chefs skin the vegetables
Derivation:
skin (the rind of a fruit or vegetable)
skinner (a person who prepares or deals in animal skins)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Synonyms:
bark; skin
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "skin" is one way to...):
strip (remove the surface from)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
They skin the trees
Sense 3
Meaning:
Bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of
Example:
The boy skinned his knee when he fell
Synonyms:
scrape; skin
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "skin" is one way to...):
injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
Did he skin his foot?
Derivation:
skin (body covering of a living animal)
skin (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
Synonyms:
clamber; scramble; shin; shinny; skin; sputter; struggle
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "skin" is one way to...):
climb (move with difficulty, by grasping)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s PP
Context examples:
It seemed as though their bones would burst through their skins.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer—nearer.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
And yet Grey Beaver was as a child-god among these white- skinned ones.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
“I think nothing but iv my own skin, these days,” was his answer.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
My skin went cold and my hair bristled at that horrible scream.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They were all of the same flesh, after all, sisters under their skins; and he might have known as much himself had he remembered his Spencer.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer.
(Melanoma, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
Besides, I can read in a man’s eye when it is his own skin that he is frightened for.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
An itchy skin condition may also occur.
(MEN2A, NCI Dictionary)
This it is, her not caring about you, which gives her such a soft skin, and makes her so much taller, and produces all these charms and graces!
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)