sky

The noun is derived from Middle English ski, skie, sky (“firmament, heavens, sky; cloud; cloud of mist or vapour; fog, mist; (astrology) certain configuration of the heavens; (astronomy) sphere of the celestial realm; (physiology) cloudiness, smoky residue (for example, in urine)”) [and other forms],^[1] from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”).^[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.^[3]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: skī, IPA^(key): /skaɪ/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophones: Sky, Skye
• Rhymes: -aɪ

sky (plural skies)

2. The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

   Synonyms: blue, firmament, heaven, (chiefly Scotland) lift, (literary or poetic, archaic) welkin

   That year, a meteor fell from the sky.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     For beſides the groues, / The skyes, the fountaines, euery region neare / Seeme all one mutuall cry. I neuer heard / So muſicall a diſcord, ſuch ſweete thunder.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 40:

     His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     [I]f you doe not all ſhew like guilt twoo pences to mee, and I in the cleere skie of Fame, ore-ſhine you as much as the full moone doth the cindars of the element, (which ſhew like pinnes heads to her) beleeue not the worde of the noble: […]

     [I]f you do not all appear like gilt twopences [i.e., counterfeit coins] next to me, and I, in the clear sky of fame, outshine you as much as the full moon outshines the cinders of the element [i.e., the stars] (which look like pinheads next to the moon), then don't believe me: […]

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 396, column 1:

     [A] Nobler Sir, ne're liu'd / 'Twixt sky and ground.

   • 1660 November 11 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 1 November 1660]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 327:

     I went with some of my relations to Court, to shew them his Ma^ties cabinet and closset of rarities; […] Here I saw […] amongst the clocks, one that shew'd the rising and setting of the Sun in y^e Zodiaq, the Sunn represented by a face and raies of gold, upon an azure skie, observing y^e diurnal and annual motion, rising and setting behind a landscape of hills, the work of our famous Fromantel; and severall other rarities.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 103, lines 245–248:

     [T]he cunning Leach ordains / In Summer's Sultry Heats (for then it reigns) / To feed the Females, e're the Sun ariſe, / Or late at Night, when Stars adorn the Skies.

   • 1700, Mat[thew] Prior, “Carmen Seculare, for the Year 1700. To the King.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 164:

     Through the large Convex of the Azure Sky, / (For thither Nature caſts our common Eye) / Fierce Meteors ſhoot their arbitrary Light, / And Comets march with lawleſs Horror bright; […]

   • 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 120, lines 411–412:

     A length of Ocean and unbounded sky, / Which ſcarce the Sea-fowl in a year o'erfly […]

   • 1807, William Wordsworth, “To a Sky-lark”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, page 81:

     There is madness about thee, and joy divine / In that song of thine; / Up with me, up with me, high and high, / To thy banqueting-place in the sky!

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 154–155:

     Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:

     So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 1926, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Blue Skies”:

     Blue skies / Smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies / Do I see

3. With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

   I lay back under a warm Texas sky.

   We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.

   • 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 80:

     Yon ancient prude, whoſe wither'd features ſhow / She might be young ſome forty years ago, / […] / With boney and unkerchief'd neck defies / The rude inclemency of wintry ſkies, / And ſails with lappet-head and mincing airs / Duely at clink of bell, to morning pray'rs.

   • 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC, part II, stanza 7, page 13:

     All in a hot and copper sky / The bloody sun at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the moon.

   • 1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book I. Introduction.—Childhood and School-time.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 21:

     [T]he stars / Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west / The orange sky of evening died away.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza LXVII, page 201:

     With that sharp sound the white dawn's creeping beams, / Stol'n to my brain, dissolved the mystery / Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams / Ruled in the eastern sky.

   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, pages 58–59:

     But now shine on, and what care I, / Who in this stormy gulf have found a pearl / The counterclaim of space and hollow sky, […]

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter II (Burglary), page 378, column 1:

     She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

4. (chiefly literary and poetic, archaic) Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

   This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Now am I dead, now am I fled, my ſoule is in the sky.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 9:

     Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphære, / So maist thou be tranſlated to the skies, / And give reſounding grace to all Heav'ns Harmonies.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 44-49:

     Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combuſtion down / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durſt defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Pastoral. Or, Alexis.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 8, line 86:

     The Gods to live in Woods have left the Skies.

   • 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Henry and Emma, […]”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 271:

     Mars ſmil'd and bow'd, the Cyprian Deity / Turn'd to the glorious Ruler of the Sky: / And Thou, She ſmiling ſaid, Great God of Days / And Verſe; behond my Deed; and ſing my Praiſe.

   • 1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XXII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 13, lines 218–220:

     The gazing Gods lean forward from the Sky: / To whom, while eager on the Chace they look, / The Sire of Mortals and Immortals ſpoke.

   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, “Judas”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 113:

     By the just vengeance of incensed skies, / Poor bishop Judas late repenting dies.

5. Ellipsis of sky blue.
   • 1667 March 12 (first performance), John Dryden, Secret-Love, or The Maiden-Queen: […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 26:

     But yet methinks, thoſe knots of Sky, do not / So well with the dead colour of her Face.

   • 1668, George Etherege, She Wou’d if She Cou’d, a Comedy. […], London: […] [John Macocke] for H[enry] Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 39:

     [W]hy, / Brother, I have beſpoke Dinner, and engag'd / Mr. Rake-hell, the little ſmart Gentleman I have / Often promis'd thee to make thee acquainted / Withal, to bring a whole Bevy of Damſels / In Sky, and Pink, and Flame-colour'd Taffeta's.

6. (mathematics, theoretical physics) The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.

   Synonym: celestial sphere

7. (obsolete, informal, rare) In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
8. (obsolete) A cloud. [13th–16th c.]

The word can be used correctly in either the singular or plural form, but the plural is now mainly literary.

• skie (obsolete)

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skying, simple past and past participle skied or skyed)

1. (transitive)
   1. (informal) To drink (a beverage) from a container without one's lips touching the container.
   2. (informal, dated) To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.

      Antonym: floor

      • 1883 December, M[ariana] G[riswold] Van Rensselaer, “George Fuller”, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume V (New Series; volume XXVII overall), number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.; London: F[rederick] Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 227, column 1:

        The artists—I mean the younger brood, and not the Brother Academicians who "skied" his pictures—were the first and the most enthusiastic in his [George Fuller's] praise.

   3. (slang, dated) To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).
      • 1894, C[ornelis] Stoffel, “Preface”, in Studies in English, Written and Spoken: For the Use of Continental Students (First Series), Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands: W. J. Thieme & Co.; London: Luzac & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page IX:

        In ‘skying’ a coin for the purpose of deciding a point at issue between two parties, two methods are in vogue: there is either the ‘slow torture’ of spinning the coin thrice, the decision to go against the tosser-up, if the other party, twice out of the three times, guesses right on which side the coin shall fall; or, the ‘sudden death’ method in which one toss is decisive; […]

   4. (sports)
      1. To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
      2. (ball games) To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.
         • 2009 September 8, Geoff Baker, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in The Seattle Times‎^[1], Seattle, Wash.: The Seattle Times Company, published 29 November 2012, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2021:

           Hernandez [i.e., Félix Hernández] walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3–1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.

         • 2011 January 22, Tim Love, “Arsenal 3 – 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport‎^[2], archived from the original on 25 March 2021:

           Van Persie [i.e., Robin van Persie] skied a penalty, conceded by Gary Caldwell who was sent off, and also hit the post before scoring his third with a shot at the near post.

   5. (obsolete) To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.
      • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “The Wreck of the ‘Flying Scud’”, in The Wrecker, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 146:

        All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.

2. (intransitive)
   1. To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
   2. (sports)
      2. (ball games) To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
      3. (rowing) To raise an oar too high above the water.

• sky the towel, sky the wipe (chiefly Australia)

• sky on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• KYS, YKS, YSK, Yks., kys

• IPA^(key): [ˈskyˀ]

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwe, schū, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh. Compare English shy and German scheu.

sky (neuter sky, plural and definite singular attributive sky)

1. shy

• bly
• genert

• “sky,4” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Old Danish sky, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).

sky c (singular definite skyen, plural indefinite skyer)

1. cloud

• “sky,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

From French jus, from Latin iūs (“gravy, broth, sauce”). The Danish word was probably borrowed via German Jus or Schü, pronounced [ˈʃyː], with a regular substitution of German /ʃ/ with Danish /sk/.

sky c (singular definite skyen, not used in plural form)

1. gravy, stock (a kind of soup)
2. jelly (made of gravy)
3. (cooking) aspic

• “sky,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwen, derived from the adjective.

sky (imperative sky, present skyr or skyer, past skyede, past participle skyet)

1. To shun.

• “sky,3” in Den Danske Ordbog

• ski, skie, ske, skye, scki, schi, schye, scy, skey, skige, skiȝe, skyȝe

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją. Doublet of skew.

• IPA^(key): /skiː/

sky (plural skyes)

1. The atmosphere or sky; that which lies above the ground.
2. A cloud or mist (mass of water droplets).
3. (rare, astronomy) A certain layout or part of the sky.
4. (rare, physiology) Clouds in urine.

• English: sky
• Scots: sky, skie, skey, ske
• Yola: skee, skir (verb)

• “skī(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-23.

From Middle Low German schuwe.

sky (neuter singular sky, definite singular and plural sky or skye, comparative skyere, indefinite superlative skyest, definite superlative skyeste)

1. shy

• blyg
• sjenert

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).

sky f or m (definite singular skya or skyen, indefinite plural skyer, definite plural skyene)

1. cloud

   Det er mange skyer på himmelen.

   There are many clouds in the sky.

Possibly from Middle Low German schuwen

sky (imperative sky, present tense skyr, simple past skydde, past participle skydd, present participle skyende)

1. To avoid, shun.

• avsky

• “sky” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ʃyː/

From Middle Low German schuwe.

sky (neuter singular sky, definite singular and plural sky or skye, comparative skyare, indefinite superlative skyast, definite superlative skyaste)

1. shy

From Old Norse ský. Akin to English sky.

sky f (definite singular skya, indefinite plural skyer, definite plural skyene)

1. cloud

Possibly from Middle Low German schuwen

sky (present tense skyr, past tense skydde, past participle skydd or skytt, passive infinitive skyast, present participle skyande, imperative sky)

1. To avoid, shun.

• avsky

• “sky” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją.

• IPA^(key): /ʃyː/

skȳ n

1. cloud
2. sky

• Swedish: sky

From Middle English sky, from Old Norse ský.

• IPA^(key): [skaɪ]

sky (plural skies)

1. sky

   It's a fair braw sky we'v got the nicht. It's quite a beautiful sky we've got tonight.

2. daylight (especially at dawn)

   A wis up afore the sky. I was up before sunrise.

3. skyline, outline against the sky (especially of a hill)

   He saw the sky o a hill awa tae the west. He saw the outline of a hill in the west.

• sky laverock
• sky-goat
• skybrek
• skysettin
• tuith in the sky

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skies, simple past skyin, past participle skiet)

1. (of weather) To clear up.
2. To shade the eyes with the hand (so as to see better).
3. To hold up to the light and examine.

• IPA^(key): /ɧyː/

• Audio:

  (file)

From Old Swedish skȳ, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją, compare English sky.

sky c

1. (countable) sky

   högt upp i skyn

   high up in the sky

2. (countable) cloud

   Synonym: moln

   tunga skyar

   heavy skies

   lätta skyar

   light clouds

   regnskyar

   rainy skies ("rain skies")

Similar to English sky in somewhat ambiguously referring to clouds in certain expressions, often in the plural. Like in English, native speakers are likely to think "sky" rather than "cloud" and unconsciously process the plural as idiomatic. The usual modern word for cloud is moln.

• himmel (“heaven”)

From French jus.

sky c

1. (uncountable, cooking) the liquid that remains in a frying pan after the fried meat is ready

• skysås (“gravy”)

From Middle Low German schǖwen, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *skiuhijan. Compare origin of skygg.

sky (present skyr, preterite skydde, supine skytt, imperative sky)

1. to avoid (due to fear, disgust, or the like), to shun

   Han skyr inga medel

   He will stop at nothing

   (literally, “He shuns no means”)

• bränt barn skyr elden (“once bitten, twice shy”)
• sky som pesten (“avoid like the plague”)

• skygg

• sky in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• sky in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• sky in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• sky in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)