▪ I. skillet1
(ˈskɪlɪt)
Forms: α. 5 skelet(t, 6–7, 9 skellet (7, 9 -it), 8 scellet. β. 6 skyllet, 7 skillett, 6– skillet.
[Of obscure origin.
The sense is against connexion with OF. eschelette, etc., a little bell (see skellat), and both form and sense differ from OF. escuelete, esculette, a small plate. The ending -et, however, and the culinary associations of the thing itself, make it probable that the source was AF. or OF.]
1. A cooking utensil of brass, copper, or other metal, usually having three or four feet and a long handle, used for boiling liquids, stewing meat, etc.; a saucepan, stew-pan. (See also quot. 1866.) Now chiefly N. Amer., a frying-pan, a (heavy) cooking-pan.
| α 1403 Nottingham Rec. II. 20 Unius skelett aeneae, iij d. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 131 Take crownes of whitsour bred, smal myed on a gratour, & do hit in a skelet. 1530 Palsgr. 271/1 Skellet with a handell, poillon. 1576 Baker Jewell of Health 144 b, These after putting into a possenet or skellet, set..over the fyre. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme ii. xix. 174 Then put it into a verie cleane sweet pipkin or skellet. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 67 Take an Iron Pot or Skellet,..set it on the Fire. 1719 Will of J. Hirst (Yorks.), A dozen of trenchers, a skellet, a spit and racks. 1838 Holloway Prov. Dict., Skellit, a small pot with a handle. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Skellet,..a funnel shaped vessel, used principally for heating beer and milk. |
| β 1519 Maldon (Essex) Liber B. fol. 160 b, iii⊇ ketills, a skillet, ix⊇ platers. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus M ij b, He shall gyue a lydde or couer worthy for the skyllet or lyttell panne. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xlii. 201 The juyce of the leaves boyled..in a brasen pipkin or skillet is very good to heale..old ulcers. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme iii. l. 541 Boile them in fresh water in some skillet. 1658 R. White tr. Digby's Powd. Symp. (1660) 118 In boyling the milk it swells so high that it sheds over the brim of the skillet. 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. p. lxii, I have seen some try to boil Cane-juice to sugar in an ordinary Skillet. 1757 Phil. Trans. L. 108 The lightning..melted an old copper skillet. 1801 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Epist. Ct. Rumford Wks. 1812 V. 136 Whose tinkers form..Skillets and saucepans. 1859 Jephson Brittany v. 55 The dressers were resplendent with immense brass skillets. 1881 Cornh. Mag. Mar. 364 Armed with a skillet she happened..to have been scouring. 1917 C. Mathewson Second Base Sloan vi. 73 [Nearby lay] an iron skillet with the handle broken off. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xvii. 382 He stands, tall, mis⁓shapen, lonely in his lonely and illkept kitchen, holding in his hand an iron skillet in which yesterday's old grease is bleakly caked. 1959 A. Sexton in Audience Autumn 31, I have found the warm caves in the woods, filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves, closets. 1968 Globe & Mail Mag. (Toronto) 13 Jan. 16/3 Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat, until slightly thickened. Add frankfurters. Cover skillet, simmer 8 to 10 minutes. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. (Parade Suppl.) 12/4 Heat oil in paella pan or wide skillet. |
2. dial. (See quot.)
| 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 353 Skillet, the thin brass perforated implement used for skimming or fletting the cream off milk. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as skillet-maker, skillet pan, skillet soot; also skilletful.
| 1552 in Bury Wills (Surtees) 142 Too brasse pannys, to kattylls, one skyllet panne. 1611 Cotgr., Poislier,..a Skellet-maker, or Frying-panne maker. 1641 Milton Animadv. 67 Your confutation hath..left nothing upon it, but a foul taste of your skillet soot. 1888 Cent. Mag. Jan. 373/2 Mrs. Pearson..had baked a skilletful of hot biscuits. |
▪ II. ˈskillet2
[Of obscure origin; there is no obvious connexion with prec.]
1. (See quot. 1888.) Also in more general applications.
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 31 July 3/1 Here a block is being cut into the right length and shape for ‘skillets’, the wooden strips of which matchboxes are made. 1959 Gloss. Terms Packaging (B.S.I.) 19 Skillet, a piece of scored timber rotarily cut into veneers which forms part of the finished punnet. 1968 Guardian 18 Nov. 6/4 Mr Moreland keeps a selection of ‘skillets’ (flattened out matchboxes) in his wallet to pass round at social gatherings. |
2. A thick flat piece of silver or other precious metal (Cent. Dict.).
▪ III. skillet
variant of skellat, bell.