See Also: Skin(health)
skin(2)(dictionary)
Skin(casino)
Skin(medicine)
skin tag(medicine)
skin(1)(dictionary)
sex skin(medicine)
skin(encyclopedia)
Dry skin(health)
skin dose(medicine)

skin(1) (iou)



skin noun. LOE.
[Old Norse skinn rel. to Middle Low German (Dutch) schinden flay, peel, Old High German scinden (German schinden).]
I.
The integument of an animal removed from the body, esp. one (intended to be) dressed or tanned (with or without the hair); spec. that of a small animal, as a sheep, calf, etc. (cf. HIDE noun1); a pelt. LOE.
S. Hood They must have built their huts of skins or wattle.
b. This used as material for clothing etc. Usu. with specifying word. ME.
calfskin, pigskin, sheepskin, etc.
c. A strip of sealskin or other material attached to the underside of a ski to prevent slipping backwards during climbing. Usu. in pl. E20.
(A part of) a skin of a sheep, calf, etc., specially prepared for writing or painting on. LOE.
b. A dollar. US slang. M20.
A container made from the skin of a sheep, goat, etc., used for holding liquids. M16.
b. A purse, a wallet. slang. L18.
c. Chiefly Jazz. A drum-head; slang a drum. Usu. in pl. E20.
II.
The continuous flexible covering of an animal body; the various layers, tissues, etc., of which this is composed, the epidermis; spec. a person's skin with respect to colour or (esp. on the face) condition. LOE.
W. Deeping She had one of those ivory skins that are proof against sunburn or worry. L. Lochhead Two toothprints On the skin of your shoulder. I. Murdoch She looked healthy and strong..her skin glowing.
b. The skin of the palm of the hand. Freq. in give skin, give some skin, shake or slap hands (with). US Black slang. M20.
An outer layer or covering; spec. (a) the peel of certain fruits and vegetables; (b) the outermost layer of a pearl; (c) the facing of a wall. ME.
B. Fussell Boil the potatoes in their skins..about 10 minutes. Do-It-Yourself Highlight the natural features rather than hiding them under a thick paint skin. attrib.: Practical Householder For single skin walls you may need to saw the vent shorter.
b. A film resembling skin on the surface of a liquid. L15.
c. A duplicating stencil. M20.
A membrane covering an organ or other internal part of an animal body. Now rare or obsolete. LME.
The inner or outer planking or plating covering the ribs of a vessel; the plating covering the frame of any craft or vehicle. M18.
b. Nautical. The part of a sail that is outside when furled. M19.
a. Orig., an objectionable person. Now gen. (chiefly Anglo-Irish), a person (of a specified kind). E19.
b. A horse, a mule. slang. E20.
c. = SKINHEAD 2a. slang. L20.
A card-game in which each player has one card which he or she bets will not be the first to be matched by a card dealt from the pack. US. E20.
Computing. A customized graphic user interface for an application or operating system. L20.
Phrases: be ready to leap out of one's skin: see LEAP verb. be skin and bone be very thin or emaciated. by the skin of one's teeth, with the skin of one's teeth by a very narrow margin, barely. change one's skin undergo an impossible change of character etc. get under a person's skin colloq. (a) annoy or interest a person intensely; (b) empathize with or understand a person. give skin, give some skin: see sense 4b above. gold-beater's skin: see gold-beater s.v. GOLD noun1 & adjective. have a thick skin, have a thin skin be insensitive, sensitive, to criticism etc. in one's skin naked. jump out of one's skin: see JUMP verb. leap out of one's skin: see LEAP verb. no skin off one's nose colloq. a matter of indifference or even benefit to one. save one's skin, save one's own skin: see SAVE verb. skin and blister rhyming slang sister. the Skins Military slang (now Hist.) [alt. of Inniskilling] the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. soaked to the skin: see SOAK verb 4. STRESSED skin. under the skin in reality, as opp. to superficial appearances. vagabond's skin: see VAGABOND noun 1. wet to the skin: see WET adjective. with a whole skin unwounded. with the skin of one's teeth: see by the skin of one's teeth above.
Comb.: skin-beater slang (chiefly Jazz) a drummer; skin beetle US any of various beetles of the families Trogidae and Dermestidae, which feed on carrion, dry skins, etc.; skin cream an emollient for the skin esp. of the face; skin-deep adjective & adverb (a) adjective (of a wound, an impression, etc.) superficial, slight; (b) adverb superficially, slightly; skin depth Electricity the distance from the surface of a conductor at which an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency is attenuated by a factor of 1/e (approx. 0.3679); skin-dive verb intrans. go skin-diving; skin-diver a person who goes skin-diving; skin-diving swimming under water without a diving suit, usu. in deep water with an aqualung and flippers; skin-dried adjective (of a mould) subjected to skin-drying; skin-drying drying of the surface of a greensand mould before casting; skin effect Electricity the tendency of an alternating current of high frequency to flow through the outer layers only of a conductor, resulting in an increase in effective resistance; skin flap Surgery a flap of living skin attached to the body by one edge, used to close a wound after amputation or in plastic surgery; skin-flick slang a pornographic film; skinfold Medicine a fold of skin and underlying fat formed by pinching, the thickness of which is a measure of nutritional status; skinfold calliper(s), a pair of callipers for measuring the thickness of a skinfold; skin-food a preparation for improving the skin esp. of the face; skin friction the friction between a solid object and a fluid or gas that it moves through; esp. that between the surface of an aircraft etc. and the air; skin game slang (a) US a gambling game rigged to swindle the players; a swindle, a dishonest operation; (b) the pornography trade; skin graft (a) (an instance of) a surgical operation involving the transplantation of living skin to a new site or to a different individual; (b) a piece of skin so transplanted; skin-grafting the surgical process of transplanting living skin; skin house slang (a) a gambling establishment; (b) an establishment providing pornographic entertainment; skin magazine colloq. a pornographic magazine; skinman a dresser of or dealer in skins; skin pass Metallurgy a final cold-rolling given to heat-treated strip steel, bringing it to final thickness and surface finish; skin-pop verb intrans. (slang, chiefly US) inject a drug subcutaneously; skin potential Physiology the electrical potential between different points on the skin, esp. as exhibited in the galvanic skin response; skin resistance (a) = skin friction above; (b) the resistance of the skin of an electrical conductor; (c) Physiology the electrical resistance of the skin of an organism; skin-search noun & verb (slang) = strip-search s.v. STRIP verb1; skin test noun & verb (a) noun a test to determine whether an immune reaction is elicited when a substance is applied to or injected into the skin; (b) verb trans. perform a skin-test on; skin-tight adjective (of a garment) very close-fitting; skin tonic a cosmetic astringent for the skin esp. of the face; skin trade (a) (now rare) trade in animal skins; (b) slang = skin game (b) above; skin worm the Guinea worm.
skinless adjective ME.
skinlike resembling (that of) skin adjective L18.