See Also: skittle-dog(medicine)
skittle(medicine)
skittle(dictionary)
skittle(dictionary)

skittle (iou)



skittle noun & verb. M17.
[Perh. rel. to SKIT verb2 (cf. Swedish, Danish, skyttel shuttle, marble, gate-bar), but cf. earlier KITTLES.]
A. noun.
In pl. (treated as sing.)
a. A game played with usu. nine wooden pins set in a square angled towards the player or in a row at the end of an alley, to be bowled down with wooden balls or a wooden disc in as few attempts as possible. Now also (more fully table skittles), a similar game played with pins set up on a board and knocked down by swinging a suspended ball. M17.
b. Nonsense; rubbish. Also as interjection. colloq. M19.
c. Chess played without serious intent. colloq. M19.
Any of the pins used to play skittles. L17.
Phrases & comb.: all beer and skittles all enjoyment or amusement (usu. in neg. contexts). skittle-alley (a building containing) an alley for playing skittles. skittle-pot a skittle-shaped crucible used esp. in glass-making. table skittles: see sense 1 above.
b. verb.
verb intrans. Play skittles. rare. M19.
verb trans. Knock down or aside; Cricket bowl out (a side) in rapid succession, defeat or dismiss easily (also foll. by out). L19.
R. H. Morrieson With those shoulders I could..skittle them right, left and centre. Sun He skittled Sri Lanka in a Test match..4 1 / 2 years ago.
skittler noun a player of skittles; colloq. a person who plays chess without serious intent: M19.