Meaning
3 senses(transitive)To navigate in a skiff.
(dialectal)To fall lightly or briefly, and lightly cover the ground (etc).
To cut (a tea bush) to maintain the plucking table.
Examples
3 sentencesTom fishes alone in a skiff.
I think I see a skiff on the horizon.
The fishing boat turned out to be a pirate skiff.
deDas Fischerboot entpuppte sich als Piratenboot. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Origin
From Middle English skif, from Middle French esquif, from Old Italian schifo (“small boat”From Middle English skif, from Middle French esquif, from Old Italian schifo (“small boat”), from Lombardic skif (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“boat, ship”). Doublet of ship.
From Scots skiff (“light shower of rain or snow”), from skiff (“move lightly”); compare the derivative skiffle (whence English skiffle) and (English skift (“light dusting of snow”) from) Scots skift (“light shower of snow”), from skift (“move lightly”), perhaps related to shift/Old Norse skipta, or perhaps an onomatopoeic formation.
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Forms
skiffs, skiffing, skiffed, skiffedLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle