“skins” is a form of
skin
/skɪn/ noun, verb
Forms skins skinning skinned skinne
- noun (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human. “He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.”
- noun (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.
- noun (countable) The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.
- noun (countable) A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid. “In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.”
- noun (countable, computing, graphical user interface) A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program. “You can use this skin to change how the browser looks.”
- noun (countable, video games) An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game. “My friend likes to use a Spider-Man skin in Fortnite.”
- noun (countable, slang) Rolling paper for cigarettes. “Pass me a skin, mate.”
- noun (Australia) A subgroup of Australian aboriginal people.
- verb (transitive) To injure the skin of. “He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete.”
- verb (transitive) To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human.
- verb (colloquial) To high five.
- verb (transitive, computing, colloquial) To apply a skin to (a computer program). “Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?”
- verb (UK, soccer, transitive) To use tricks to go past a defender.
- verb (intransitive) To become covered with skin or a skin-like layer. “A wound eventually skins over.”
- verb (transitive) To cover with skin, or as if with skin; hence, to cover superficially.
- verb (US, slang, archaic) To produce, in recitation, examination, etc., the work of another for one's own, or to use cribs, memoranda, etc., which are prohibited.
Synonyms
peel pericarp hide pelt film moiety bark chafe excoriate graze scrape flay fleece flense scalp tegument cutis clamber scramble shin shinny struggle sputter pare
Etymology
From Middle English skyn, skinn, from Old English scinn, from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, from Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to split off”), nasal variant of *skeh₁i-d- (“to cut”). Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”), from which derives hide.
Cognate with Dutch schinde (“bark”), dialectal German Schinde (“fruit peel”); also Breton skant (“scales”), Old Irish cenn (“covering, shell”), Irish scáin (“to tear, burst”), Latin scindō (“to split, divide”), Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “to split”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The external membranous integument of an animal.
- noun The hide of an animal, separated from the body, whether green, dry, or tanned; especially, that of a small animal, as a calf, sheep, or goat.
- verb To strip off the skin or hide of; to flay; to peel; as, to skin an animal.
- verb To cover with skin, or as with skin; hence, to cover superficially.
Etymology [Icel. skinn; akin to Sw. skinn, Dan. skind, AS. scinn, G. schined to skin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “skin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details