skip

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skɪp/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English skippen, probably from a Scandinavian source:^[2][3][4][5] compare Old Norse skopa (“to take a run”) and dialect Swedish skopa, to skip or leap,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *skupaną.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To leap or spring lightly: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, in Barnhart;^[2] about 1300 in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

To run off or flee is from the mid-14th century, and skip out from the late 14th.^[3] To pass over and omit parts, as in reading, is first recorded in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women (about 1386).^[2][3] To bounce, as a stone across water, is from the mid-15th century, and to make something skip from the 1680s.^[3] The noun, a light leap, is from the early 15th century.^[3][6] Skip it! is by 1856,^[3] the skipping rope by 1799,^[3] and to fail to attend, skip school, from 1810.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1300 – to leap lightly.^[2]
• mid-14th century – to flee.^[3]
• c. 1386 – to omit, in Chaucer.^[2]
• 1799 – skipping rope.^[3]
• 1810 – skip school.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move lightly with little hops and jumps.
2. To jump over a rope swung under the feet.
3. To leave out or pass over: skip a chapter.
4. To fail to attend or do: skip lunch.
5. To bounce a flat stone across water.

Noun

1. A light jump or hop.

Word family

• skippable
• skippingly
• hit-skip
• outskip
• nonskipping
• skip bombing
• skip tracer

Related words

• skipper
• skipping rope
• skep

Usage notes

A different skip, a large open container for builders' rubbish, is a variant of skep, a basket (early 19th century in this sense).^[7][5] Skip is also short for skipper, the captain of a team, from 1830 in curling.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press