skill
Pronunciation
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006
Pronunciation
- IPA: /skɪl/
skill
- Capacity to do something well; technique, ability. Skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, Scene 1,
- I have heard the Frenchman hath good skill in his rapier.
- 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175 ↗:
- Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
- c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, Scene 1,
- (obsolete) Discrimination; judgment; propriety; reason; cause.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book II, Hackett, 2006, Canto I, Stanza 54, lines 1-5, p. 21,
- Him so I sought, and so at last I fownd
- Where him that witch had thralled to her will,
- In chaines of lust and lewde desyres ybownd
- And so transformed from his former skill,
- That me he knew not, nether his owne ill;
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene 7,
- Methinks I should know you, and know this man;
- Yet I am doubtful; for I am mainly ignorant
- What place this is; and all the skill I have
- Remembers not these garments; nor I know not
- Where I did lodge last night. […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book II, Hackett, 2006, Canto I, Stanza 54, lines 1-5, p. 21,
- (obsolete) Knowledge; understanding.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Hackett, 2006, Canto III, Stanza 45, lines 4-5, p. 62,
- And Howell Dha shall goodly well indew
- The salvage minds with skill of just and trew;
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II,
- […] This desert soil
- Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold;
- Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise
- Magnificence […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Hackett, 2006, Canto III, Stanza 45, lines 4-5, p. 62,
- (obsolete) Display of art; exercise of ability; contrivance; address.
- 1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Book III, Chapter VI,,
- Richard was well stored with men, the bones, and quickly got money, the sinews of warre; by a thousand princely skills gathering so much coin as if he meant not to return, because looking back would unbowe his resolution.
- 1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Book III, Chapter VI,,
- ability
- talent
- See also Thesaurus:skill
- French: habileté, compétence, don, capacité
- German: Fähigkeit, Fertigkeit, Geschicklichkeit, Kunst, Talent, Kompetenz
- Italian: abilità, capacità, competenza
- Portuguese: habilidade, talento
- Russian: уме́ние
- Spanish: destreza, habilidad, maña, talento
skill (comparative skiller, superlative skillest)
- (UK, slang) Great, excellent. [1980s–1990s]
- 1987, Teresa Maughan, Letters (in Your Sinclair issue 18, June 1987)
- Well, unfortunately for you, my dearest Waggipoos, I'm much more skill than you!
- 1991, Wreckers (video game review in Crash issue 88, May 1991)
- This game is skill. Remember that because it's going to sound really complicated.
- 1999, "Andy Smith", I am well skill (on Internet newsgroup alt.digitiser)
- And I am skiller than you.
- 1987, Teresa Maughan, Letters (in Your Sinclair issue 18, June 1987)
skill (skills, present participle skilling; past and past participle skilled)
- (transitive) To set apart; separate.
- (transitive, chiefly, dialectal) To discern; have knowledge or understanding; to know how (to).
- 1633, George Herbert, “Justice,” in The Temple,
- I cannot skill of these Thy ways […]
- 1633, George Herbert, “Justice,” in The Temple,
- (transitive, dialectal, Scotland, North England, rare) To know; to understand.
- 1613, Breadalbane Letters and Documents
- As for the virginals I have none here that skill of them, except the young lord.
- 17th century, Isaac Barrow, “On Industry in Our Particular Calling as Scholars,”
- […] to skill the arts of expressing our mind and imparting our conceptions with advantage, so as to instruct or persuade others […]
- 1613, Breadalbane Letters and Documents
- (intransitive) To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.
- (intransitive) To have personal or practical knowledge; be versed or practised; be expert or dextrous.
- (intransitive, archaic) To make a difference; signify; matter.
- 1592, Richard Turnbull, An Exposition upon the Canonicall Epistle of Saint Jude, London: John Windet, Sermon 5, p. 67,
- So then the whole scripture of God, being true, whence soever this be delivered and gathered, it skilleth not […]
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act V, Scene 1,
- […] I should have given’t you to-day morning, but as a madman’s epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered.
- 1633, George Herbert, “The Church Porch,” in The Temple,
- What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold
- About thy neck do drown thee?
- 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter 42,
- But it skills not talking of it.
- 1592, Richard Turnbull, An Exposition upon the Canonicall Epistle of Saint Jude, London: John Windet, Sermon 5, p. 67,
- (video games) To spend acquired points in exchange for skills.
- (separate) split (call management systems)
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006