skiff.
A small flat-bottomed open boat with a pointed bow and square stern.
Meaning & usage
A small flat-bottomed open boat with a pointed bow and square stern.
Any of various types of boats small enough for sailing or rowing by one person.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English skif, from Middle French esquif, from Old Italian schifo (“small boat”), from Lombardic skif (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“boat, ship”). Doublet of ship.
To navigate in a skiff.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English skif, from Middle French esquif, from Old Italian schifo (“small boat”), from Lombardic skif (“boat”), from Proto-Germanic *skipą (“boat, ship”). Doublet of ship.
A light, fleeting shower of rain or snow, or gust of wind, etc.
A skiff of rain blew into the shed and the two men moved their chairs back.
A (typically light) dusting of snow or ice (or dust, etc) (on ground, water, trees, etc).
Where this word comes from
From Scots skiff (“light shower of rain or snow”), from skiff (“move lightly”); compare the derivative skiffle (whence English skiffle) and (English skift (“light dusting of snow”) from) Scots skift (“light shower of snow”), from skift (“move lightly”), perhaps related to shift/Old Norse skipta, or perhaps an onomatopoeic formation.
To fall lightly or briefly, and lightly cover the ground (etc).
Where this word comes from
From Scots skiff (“light shower of rain or snow”), from skiff (“move lightly”); compare the derivative skiffle (whence English skiffle) and (English skift (“light dusting of snow”) from) Scots skift (“light shower of snow”), from skift (“move lightly”), perhaps related to shift/Old Norse skipta, or perhaps an onomatopoeic formation.
An act of slightly pruning tea bushes, placing new leaves at a convenient height without removing much woody growth.
To cut (a tea bush) to maintain the plucking table.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.