Etymology

Noun

1. The system that provides support to an organism, internal and made up of bones and cartilage in vertebrates, external in some other animals.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island,

     At the foot of a pretty big pine, and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground.

2. A frame that provides support to a building or other construction.
3. A very thin person.

   She lost so much weight while she was ill that she became a skeleton.

4. (From the sled used, which originally was a bare frame, like a skeleton.) A type of tobogganing in which competitors lie face down, and descend head first (compare luge).
5. The vertices and edges of a polyhedron, taken collectively.

Related terms

• endoskeleton
• exoskeleton
• hydrostatic skeleton
• skeleton crew
• skeleton in the closet, skeleton in the cupboard
• skeleton key
• skeleton staff

Verb

1. to reduce to a skeleton; to skin
2. to minimize