▪ I. skimp, a.
[Of obscure origin: not in general use until late 19th c.]
Scanty; = scrimp a.
| 1775 Songs & Poems Costume (Percy Soc.) 255 Then the fops are so fine, With lank waisted chine, And a skimp bit of a hat. 1890 Athenæum 9 Aug. 189/3 Breaking up other measures, especially those of the ode, into skimp lengths of like sort. 1926 [see love-curl s.v. love n.1 16]. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 244 Sneed turned his attention to considering the skimp possibles; there were no probables for the job. |
▪ II. skimp, n. Chiefly dial. and colloq.
(skɪmp)
[f. the adj.]
A small or insignificant piece of something; a small or scanty article, esp. a fashionably skimpy garment.
| 1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 118 He thowt 'at t' moin was necessary tul his existence, and..he hed one māade o' white pāaper, an' oiled here an' thear, so as to resemble skimps o' cloud, as seen to the physical eye. 1925 Bulletin (Glasgow) 11 Apr. 10/2 She surreptitiously dabbed a little skimp of a handkerchief in her eyes. 1966 Seventeen June 92 A skimp..of stinging green French cotton. 1979 B. Malamud Dubin's Lives vi. 211 She wore a yellow skimp, her bosom snug in the fabric, her legs..good to see in short dresses. |
▪ III. skimp, v.
[Cf. skimp a.]
= scrimp v.
| 1879 in Webster Suppl. 1880 R. G. White Every-Day English 13 The a in catch is moderately broad;..and consequently it is ‘skimped’ by all who are inclined to be slovenly. 1888 Rider Haggard Col. Quaritch i, In those ages men did not skimp their flint, and oak, and mortar. |
| absol. 1888 Eggleston Graysons xix, The woman who has..schemed and skimped to achieve her attire. |