scull

Etymology 1

From Middle English sculle (“a type of oar”), of uncertain origin, possibly from North Germanic, from Old Norse skola (“to rinse, wash”).

noun

1. A single oar mounted at the stern of a boat and moved from side to side to propel the boat forward.
2. One of a pair of oars handled by a single rower.
3. A small rowing boat, for one person.
4. A light rowing boat used for racing by one, two, or four rowers, each operating two oars (sculls), one in each hand.

verb

1. To row a boat using a scull or sculls.
2. To skate while keeping both feet in contact with the ground or ice.

Etymology 2

See skull. The verb sense may derive from Danish/Norwegian/Swedish skål.

noun

1. Archaic spelling of skull.
   The sculls were so tender, that they generally fell to pieces on being touched. The other bones were stronger. There were some teeth which were judged to be smaller than those of an adult; a scull which on a slight view, appeared to be that of an infant, […] 1801, Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the state of Virginia, page 144
2. A skull cap. A small bowl-shaped helmet, without visor or bever.
   The scull is a head piece, without visor or bever, resembling a bowl or bason, such as was worn by our cavalry, within twenty or thirty years. 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 11

verb

1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) To drink the entire contents of (a drinking vessel) without pausing.
   2005, Jane Egginton, Working and Living Australia, The Sunday Times, Cadogan Guides, UK, page 59, In 1954, Bob Hawke made the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.
   That way you get your opponent so gassed up from sculling beer that all he can think about is trying to burp without spewing. 2005, Stefan Laszczuk, The Goddamn Bus of Happiness, page 75
   For a livelier scene, head here on Friday or Saturday night, when mass beer-sculling (chugging) and yodeling are accompanied by a brass band and costumed waitresses ferrying foaming beer steins about the atmospheric, cellarlike space. 2006, Marc Llewellyn, Lee Mylne, Frommer′s Australia from $60 a Day, 14th edition, page 133
   After a three-day Torquay-to-Sydney road trip with his hosts, Noll rejoined his American temmates, unshaven and stinking of alcohol, the Team USA badge ripped from his warm-up jacket and replaced by an Aussie-made patch of Disney character Gladstone Gander sculling a frothy mug of beer. 2010, Matt Warshaw, The History of Surfing, page 136
   I sipped it. It was thick and sweet and yuck. It went somewhere and did something I couldn't pinpoint. I sculled the rest. 2020, Becky Manawatu, Auē, page 181

Etymology 3

See school.

noun

1. (obsolete) A shoal of fish.

Etymology 4

See skua

noun

1. The skua gull.