▪ I. skite, n. In senses 1-3, Sc. and north. dial.
(skaɪt, Sc. skeit)
Also skyte.
[Related to skite v.2]
1. A sudden, vigorous stroke or blow, esp. one given in an oblique direction; an oblique impact, or one which causes a rebound.
| 1785 Burns Jolly Beggars i, When hailstanes drive wi' bitter skyte, And infant frosts begin to bite. 1825 Jamieson Suppl., Skite,..a smart and sudden blow, so as to make what strikes rebound in a slanting direction. 1895– in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Sc., N. Irel., Northumb.). |
2. A trick; a skit. Cf. skit n.2 2.
| 1804 W. Tarras Poems 60 He's play'd my dochter Meg a skyte, Which weel has coft the gibbet. 1825 Jamieson Suppl. s.v., He's played me an ill skite. 1899 Lumsden Edin. Poems 89 This Club..Enjoy'd thy witty ‘Tory’ skites Wi' hearty glee. |
3. A person who on some account or other is regarded with contempt. (Cf. blatherskite.)
| 1790 W. Maclay Jrnl. 28 June (1890) x. 310 Hamilton has a very boyish, giddy manner, and Scotch–Irish people could well call him a ‘skite’. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Skyte. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, But I maun speak to this gabbling skyte too, for bairns and fules speak at the Cross what they hear at the ingle side. 1850 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 136 Oh, such a withered up skite poor Mac is become. |
4. Austral. and N.Z. colloq. a. Boasting, boastfulness; ostentation, show; conceit.
| 1860 C. Thatcher Victoria Songster v. 160 You don't often see a chap given to the 'skite, Can do very much when it comes to a fight. 1910 E. W. Hornung Boss of Taroomba 180 ‘Then none o' your skite, mate,’ said Bill, knocking out a clay pipe against his heel. 1918 G. Wall Lett. Airman 85 This notepaper is a part of it, quite unnecessary skite. I thought you might like a sample of it, though. 1933 N. Lindsay Saturdee 115 Ponk's the bloke to take the skite outer him. 1958 I. Cross God Boy vi. 44 You started us off with your skite about not caring about fifty bangs and now you say shut up. 1965 S. T. Ollivier Petticoat Farm ii. 31 ‘Alister Bridgeman says it's mostly skite,’ Sarah said breezily. 1972 P. Newton Sheep Thief xviii. 149, I thought I had a good district run but you've taken the skite out of me. |
b. A braggart, a boaster; a conceited person.
| 1906 ‘T. Collins’ in Barrier Truth (Broken Hill, N.S.W.) 1 June, In spite of Rigby's very complimentary insinuation that I'm a skite and a liar, the wagon was gone. 1928 Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Feb. 21/1 To the mug, the skite and the liar, to the nark and the hypocrite A fellow can always jerry. 1941 S. J. Baker N.Z. Slang vii. 61 Our borrowings [from Australia] of what might be described as ‘social’ slang..[include] skite. 1952 D. Niland in Coast to Coast 1951–1952 198 And what a skite! You should have seen him. 1958 I. Cross God Boy i. 8 I'm not a skite but if I was fighting a man it would be the same. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ii. 30 He had no time for ‘skites’, that is, boastful know-it-alls. 1969 Australian 23 Sept. 2 Australians should not see themselves as boastful, arrogant skites, the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, said yesterday. |
5. A jollification, a spree, a binge. Freq. in phr. on the skite. orig. and chiefly Sc.
| 1869 St. Andrews Gaz. 27 Nov. 3/6 A correspondent..sends the following..catalogue of synonyms of whisky and whisky drinking in the West of Scotland:—..on the skyte. 1895 W. Stewart Lilts 65 When ye went on the ‘skite’ an' sent railway things glee'd. 1909 J. J. Bell Oh! Christina xiv. 112 You an' me's gaun to ha'e an' awfu' skite, eh, auntie? 1946 J. Irving Royal Navalese 158 Skite (skyte), on the, indulging in an orgy; on ‘the tiles’. 1954 Times 16 Nov. 4/1 The Bejant skite (the party of the first-year students). 1972 N. Smythe in E. Berman Ten of Best (1979) 113, I was a bit too fond of the old jar, Went on the skite once too often. |
▪ II. skite, v.1 Sc. and dial.
(skaɪt)
Also 5 (9 Sc.) skyte.
[a. ON. sk{iacu}ta (Icel. sk{iacu}ta, Norw. and Sw. skita, Da. skide), or MLG. schîten, MDu. schijten, = OE. sc{iacu}tan shite v.]
intr. To void excrement. Hence ˈskiting ppl. a.
| 1449 Paston Lett. I. 85, I cam abord the Admirall, and bade them stryke in the Kyngys name.., and they bade me skyte in the Kyngs name. 1508 Dunbar Flyting 194, I warne the it is wittin, How, skyttand skarth, thow hes the hurle behind. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax Prol. B, In further contempt of his name, vsed a phrase that he had lerned at his being in the lowe countries, and bad Skite vpon Aiax. 1808 in Jamieson. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 353. |
▪ III. skite, v.2
(skaɪt)
Also 8 skyt, 9 skyte.
[perh. f. ON. sk{yacu}t-, umlauted stem of skjóta to shoot.
This verb, and the corresponding n., have much currency in dial. use; fuller illustration of the various senses may be found in the Eng. Dial. Dict. For further material see also Sc. Nat. Dict.]
1. intr. To shoot or dart swiftly, esp. in an oblique direction; to run lightly and rapidly; to make off hastily. Sc. and dial.
| 1721 Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 112 Like a shot starn, that thro the air Skyts east or west with unko glare. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) s.v., To skite about is to go running about. 1895 J. Barlow Strangers at Lisconnel 325 It's a..young villain her son must be..to skyte off and lave her that-a-way. |
2. To slip suddenly. Sc. and dial.
| 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb (1873) 225 The ‘blower’ skytit oot o' Samie's mou'. 1881 J. Ballantine in Edwards Mod. Sc. Poets Ser. i. 29 Our feet skyted back on the road freezing hard. |
3. To brag, to boast. Austral. and N.Z. colloq.
| 1857 C. R. Thatcher Colonial Songster 18 If ever you get into a fight, Of course you'll not forget to skite. 1896 E. Turner Little Larrikin xxiv. 295 It used to make me a bit sick sometimes to hear him skite, knowing how much chance I had. 1902 N.Z. Illustr. Mag. V. 486 They had him skiting about his moonlight stroll with someone. 1940 F. Sargeson Man & his Wife (1944) 79, I suppose he went back to his ship and skited about the time he'd had. 1956 G. Casey in Coast to Coast 1955–56 82 Spent most of the forty-eight hours skiting to his wife and young Les that he had got old Spend's goat thoroughly. 1968 A. Holden Death after School xxv. 181 They did save my life... I don't mind how much they skite. 1978 P. Grace Mutuwhenua xiv. 102 Everyone laughing, hugging Nanny who was skiting about her hat. |
Hence (sense 3) ˈskiter; ˈskiting vbl. n.
| 1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Dec. (Red Page) An incessant talker is a skiter or a fluter. 1916 Anzac Bk. 99 If there's one thing I hate, it is skiting... So you won't think I boast when I tell you. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling ix. 77 A fellow, fed up with city skiters, came out west to the edge of beyond, and began this village, where he could do his own skiting. 1957 R. Lawler Summer of Seventeenth Doll iii. 113 Lyin' comes as natural to him as skiting. |