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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sky.

The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skaɪ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

    That year, a meteor fell from the sky.
  2. With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

    I lay back under a warm Texas sky.
    We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.
  3. Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

    archaic · literary · poetic
    This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.
  4. Ellipsis of sky blue.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
  5. The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.

  6. In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.

    informal · obsolete · rare
  7. A cloud.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”). Partly displaced Old English heofon, which survives in the reflex heaven, still sometimes used in the sense of sky, but usually in high or poetic register. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

verb/skaɪ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.

    informal · transitive
  2. To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.

    dated · informal · transitive
  3. To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).

    dated · slang · transitive
  4. To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.

    transitive
  5. To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.

    transitive
  6. To miss a goal by kicking the ball over the crossbar.

    transitive
  7. To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.

    obsolete · transitive
  8. To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).

    intransitive
  9. To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.

    intransitive
  10. To raise an oar too high above the water.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”). Partly displaced Old English heofon, which survives in the reflex heaven, still sometimes used in the sense of sky, but usually in high or poetic register. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

noun/skaɪ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A disagreeable person; an enemy.

    UK · obsolete · slang
Where this word comes from

From Volsci (“a tribe who opposed the Romans”).

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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.