Sky

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Alternative forms

• skie obsolete

Origin

From Middle English, from Old Norse ský ("cloud"), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją, *skiwô ("cloud, cloud cover, haze"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)k(')ew-, *(s)keu- ("sky, cloud"). Cognate with Old English scēo ("cloud"), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo ("light cloud cover"), Old Irish cēo ("sky"), Irish ceo ("mist, fog"). Also related to Old English scūa ("shadow, darkness"), Latin obscūrus ("dark, shadowy"), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, "he covers").

Full definition of sky

Noun

1. (obsolete) A cloud.
2. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the ground during the day.
   That year, a meteor fell from the sky.
3. The part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its condition, climate etc.
   I lay back under a warm Texas sky.
   We're not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.
• 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.
4. Heaven.
   This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.

Usage notes

Usually the word can be used correctly in either the singular or plural form, but the plural is now mainly poetic.

Synonyms

• firmament
• heaven
• lift

Derived terms

• skyline
• skysill
• skyward
• skyclad

Related terms

• skylark
• the sky's the limit
• reach for the sky

Verb

1. (sports) to hit, kick or throw (a ball) extremely high.
• 2011, January 22, Ian Hughes, Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan, Van Persie skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.
2. (colloquial, dated) To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot be well seen.
• The CenturyBrother Academicians who skied his pictures.