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skink - 8 dictionary results

skink

1  [skingk]
Use skink in a Sentence
–noun
any of numerous lizards of the family Scincidae, common in many regions of the Old and New World, typically having flat, smooth, overlapping scales and comprising terrestrial, arboreal, and fossorial species.
Origin:
1580–90; < L scincus < Gk skínkos lizard

skink

2  [skingk]
–verb (used with object) Scot. Dialect.
to serve (a beverage).
Origin:
1350–1400; ME skynken < MD schenken, schinken; c. OE scencan, G schenken
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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skink   (skĭngk)   
n.  Any of numerous smooth shiny lizards of the family Scincidae, having a cylindrical body and small or rudimentary legs and living chiefly in temperate and tropical regions.

[Latin scincus, from Greek skinkos.]
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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Skink

Skink\, n. [L. scincus, Gr. ????.] [Written also scink.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of regularly scaled harmless lizards of the family Scincid[ae], common in the warmer parts of all the continents.

Note: The officinal skink (Scincus officinalis) inhabits the sandy plains of South Africa. It was believed by the ancients to be a specific for various diseases. A common slender species (Seps tridactylus) of Southern Europe was formerly believed to produce fatal diseases in cattle by mere contact. The American skinks include numerous species of the genus Eumeces, as the blue-tailed skink (E. fasciatus) of the Eastern United States. The ground skink, or ground lizard (Oligosoma laterale) inhabits the Southern United States.

Skink

Skink\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Skinked; p. pr. & vb. n. Skinking.] [Icel. skenja; akin to Sw. sk["a]ka, Dan. skienke, AS. scencan, D. & G. schenken. As. scencan is usually derived from sceonc, sceanc, shank, a hollow bone being supposed to have been used to draw off liquor from a cask. [root]161. See Shank, and cf. Nunchion.] To draw or serve, as drink. [Obs.]

Bacchus the wine them skinketh all about. --Chaucer.

Such wine as Ganymede doth skink to Jove. --Shirley.

Skink

Skink\, v. i. To serve or draw liquor. [Obs.]

Skink

Skink\, n. Drink; also, pottage. [Obs.] --Bacon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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skink 
1590, from M.Fr. scinc, from L. scincus, from Gk. skinkos, a kind of lizard common in Asia and N.Africa, of unknown origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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