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SkipJack

 - 6 dictionary results

skip⋅jack

[skip-jak]
–noun, plural (especially collectively) -jack, (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) -jacks for 1; -jacks for 2, 3.
1. any of various fishes that leap above the surface of the water, as a tuna, Euthynnus pelamis, or the bonito.
2. Entomology. click beetle.
3. Nautical. an American one-masted sailing vessel.

Origin:
1545–55; skip 1 + jack 1

click beetle

–noun
any of numerous beetles of the family Elateridae, having the ability to spring up with a clicking sound when placed on their backs.


Origin:
1860–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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skip·jack   (skĭp'jāk')   
n.   pl. skipjack or skip·jacks
  1. Any of several marine food fishes of the genus Euthynnus, related to and resembling the tuna, especially an economically important striped species (E. pelamis) occurring in all tropical areas.

  2. Any of various fishes, such as the bluefish, that habitually leap out of the water.

  3. pl. skip·jacks Nautical A small sailboat having a bottom shaped like a flat V and vertical sides.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

skipjack 
1554, "a pert shallow-brained fellow, a puppy, a conceited fop" [OED], from skip (v.) + generic name jack. Applied 1703 to tropical fishes with leaping tendencies. In ref. to a kind of sailing boat used on Chesapeake Bay, attested from 1887.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

SkipJack cryptography
An encryption algorithm created by the NSA (National Security Agency) which encrypts 64-bit blocks of data with an 80-bit key. It is used in the Clipper chip, a VLSI device with an ARM processor core, which is intended to perform cryptographic operations while allowing the security agencies listen in.
There are (apparently) two agencies, both of whom have to agree that there is a valid reason to decode a message. Don't laugh, they are serious.
[Algorithm?]
(1995-12-07)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Encyclopedia

skipjack

any of approximately 7,000 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) named for the clicking noise made when seized by a predator. Most click beetles range between 2.5 and 18 mm (less than 34 inch) in length and are brown or black in colour with either little or no ornamentation. However, some tropical species are brightly coloured or luminescent. Click beetles have elongated bodies with parallel sides and bluntly rounded ends

Learn more about skipjack with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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