▪ I. skinny, a. and n.
(ˈskɪnɪ)
[f. skin n. + -y1.]
A. adj.
1. Consisting or formed of skin; resembling skin or film; cutaneous, membranous.
| 1573 Baret Alv. s.v. Flie, To flie with skinny winges. 1601 Holland Pliny xxiii. Proem, The bones charged with purulent and skinnie matter. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 236 Heere is also to be obserued a skinny Ligament. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 6 The Bee hath four dry pellucid skinny wings. 1753 N. Torriano Gangr. Sore Throat 94 Those loosened Pieces of skinny Membranes. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 734 The middle row of scales the largest, all more or less membranaceous and skinny. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 71 Whirls..surrounded by a skinny sheath. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 660 So the hair sprang up in the skin, being of a skinny and stringy nature. |
| fig. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. Wks. 1851 III. 11 Settling in a skinny congealment of ease and sloth at the top. |
| Comb. 1822 Hortus Anglicus II. 351 L. Scariosa, Skinny cupped Liatris. |
2. a. Of, pertaining to, or affecting, the skin.
rare.
| 1611 Cotgr., Peaucier, skinnie; of, in, or belonging to, the skinne. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 186 In cutaneous or skinny Distempers. Ibid. 246 An excellent Medicine in Skinny Disorders. |
b. Lying next the skin.
| 1675 H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 114 Take the rump-end of the Back-bone, and lay it with the skinny side upward. |
3. Having the skin prominently shown; lacking flesh; thin, lean, emaciated.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 45 Each at once her choppie finger laying Vpon her skinnie Lips. 1724 Ramsay Health 118 With skinny cheek, pale lips, and blood-run eyes. 1781 Sir J. Reynolds Journ. Flanders Wks. 1797 II. 29 The daughter of Herod..is rather beautiful, but too skinny and lean. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. ii. 127 Skinny shrivelled grain produces food weak and unsubstantial. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, His long skinny arms all covered with anchors and arrows and letters. 1879 Sat. Rev. 4 Oct. 415 A chicken..sometimes skinny and often ill⁓kept. |
4. Mean, miserly, niggardly, stingy.
| 1833 Hood Public Dinner 152 The subscription still skinny. 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., Skinny, mean; inhospitable. 1890 Lancet 2 Aug. 246/2 As a rule, the whole of the men in a factory would contribute, and ‘skinny’ ones were not let off easily. |
5. Of clothing: tight-fitting.
| 1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird vii. 96 Janey's friends..in skinny sweaters and bell-bottomed corduroy trousers. 1972 Vogue Feb. 63 Long skinny jacket over beautifully cut pants. 1982 Times 2 Apr. 10/3 Teddy bear fur over skinny suede skirts. |
6. Special collocations, as
Skinny Liz, a thin girl or woman (see also
quot. 1940);
skinnymalink,
-links,
-linky (chiefly
Sc.), a thin or emaciated person or animal; also
attrib. or as adj.;
skinny-rib a., of a sweater, etc., fitting tightly across the ribs [the apparent connection with
rib stitch is accidental]; also
ellipt. as
n.| 1940 M. Marples Public School Slang 190 St. Bees..used wimp (a corruption of women) and the Arabic bint of women in general, while *skinny liz was applied, almost as a nickname, to any elderly woman. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 169 Thin people..skin and bones, skinny,..skinny guts, Skinny Liz, skinny-malink. 1961 N. Fitzgerald Black Welcome iv. 95 She takes no interest in..eatin'. That's why she's such a Skinny Liz. |
| 1892 Brechin Advertiser 6 Sept. 3 Twa *skinamalinks o' the genus horse. 1904 ‘H. Foulis’ Erchie iii. 15 Wee skina⁓malink craturs dottin' up the passages in U.F. kirks carryin' the books. 1916 Dialect Notes IV. 280 Skinny⁓malink, a very thin person. ‘O, she's a regular skinny⁓malink.’ Usage jocular. 1935 S. Beckett Echo's Bones, The chagrin of the old skinnymalinks. 1956 Sunday Times 22 Jan. 2/5 There used to be a children's song in Aberdeen relating the adventures of a thin man called ‘Skinamalinky Lang Legs’, which is still sung as a skipping song, etc.: Skinamalinky lang legs Umbrella feet. 1979 L. Derwent Border Bairn vi. 71 A skinnymalink of a laddie with holes in his stockings. |
| 1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 48/2 (Advt.), Men's fashionable, *skinny-rib..acrylic pullover. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 25 June 11/1 (Advt.), Skirts, blouses, and skinny ribs. |
B. n. 1. a. Austral. A girl or woman. ?
Obs. b. A thin person.
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 67 Skinny, a girl or young woman. 1959 [see Skinny Liz, sense A. 6 above]. 1977 Time 6 June 48/2 The skinnies of the world have, in effect, righteously established fitness standards that reward their own strengths and forgive their weaknesses. |
2. Information; rumour (see also
quot. 1959).
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1959 Amer. Speech XXXIV. 156 What's the skinny means ‘What's up?’ 1974 E. Brawley Rap (1975) ii. xxiii. 363 Come to lay some skinny on you that I picked up off the vine. 1979 D. Anthony Long Hard Cure xxi. 162 Who killed her, Butler? Let's have the skinny. 1980 L. Cody Dupe xxiii. 165 Give them the skinny but keep the kudos. |
Add:
[B.] [1.] c. A thin example of its type.
colloq.| 1961 John o'London's 30 Nov. 603/1 Among the Skinnies is a delicious giggler, Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. a16 (Advt.), You can trade an even 12.50 for an exclusive YSL skinny [sc. tie]. 1987 Hot Rod Aug. 57/1 Rolling stock consists of highly polished Weld wheels fore and aft fitted with Michelin..skinnies up front and Pro Trac..balloons out back. |
▸
A. adj. orig. U.S. Of an item of food or a drink: low-calorie or low-fat;
spec. (
esp. in a coffee shop) of a cup of coffee: made with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk.
| 1969 N.Y. Times 2 Nov. f39/6 (advt.) Virtually every leading food producer is in the Lo-Calorie business... Skinny Shakes..Skinny Malteds..Skinny Parfaits..Skinny Hot Chocolate. 1993 N.Y. Times 22 Dec. c6 Many New Yorkers are becoming fluent in the new language by practicing at home in front of the mirror—make that a double-tall-iced-decaf-skinny cappuccino, please. 2002 Eve Oct. 147/2 A skinny Venti latte has 144 fewer calories, and a slinky 17g less fat than its whole-milk cousin. |
▸
B. n. orig. U.S. A cup of coffee or a coffee-based beverage made with skimmed or semi-skimmed milk (
esp. in a coffee shop) (
cf. Additions).
| 1992 Washington Post 17 June e14/1 Baristas often call drinks made with skim milk ‘skinnies’. 1994 N.Y. Times Mag. 31 July 10/3 An unleaded skinny has had a lot of nasty, heart-racing, artery-clogging gunk taken out of it but..is it worth drinking if it's so safe? 2006 Guardian (Nexis) 28 Jan. (Weekend Suppl.) 101 All of a sudden we were ordering double skinnies like we knew what they were. |
▪ II. ˈskinny, v. [f. the adj.] intr. To lose flesh; to become skinny or skinnier. Usu. with
down.
| 1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xxii. 423 She thinned out and she skinnied out, an'—she dropped that baby, dead. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 6-b/3 She joined tops after a neighbor started skinnying down to the system. 1981 TV Picture Life Mar. 61/1 (Advt.), All the difficult ‘skinnying-down’ has been done for you while you slept. |