skin

Etymology

From Middle English skyn, skinn, from Old English scinn, from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, from Proto-Indo-European *sken- (“to split off”), nasal variant of *skeh₁i-d- (“to cut”). See also Dutch schinde (“bark”), dialectal German Schinde (“fruit peel”); also Breton skant (“scales”), Old Irish ceinn, Irish scainim (“I tear, burst”), Latin scindere (“to split, divide”), Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “he splits”). Partially displaced native Old English hȳd (“skin, hide”), see hide. More at shed. Not related to shin.

noun

1. (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the body of any animal, including of a human.
   Her skin is pale like chicken skin, after you have peel[ed] all the feathers. 2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 184
   He is so disgusting he makes my skin crawl.
2. (uncountable) The outer protective layer of the fruit of a plant.
3. (countable) The skin and fur of an individual animal used by humans for clothing, upholstery, etc.
4. (countable) A congealed layer on the surface of a liquid.
   In order to get to the rest of the paint in the can, you′ll have to remove the skin floating on top of it.
5. (countable, computing, graphical user interface) A set of resources that modifies the appearance and/or layout of the graphical user interface of a computer program.
   You can use this skin to change how the browser looks.
6. (countable, video games) An alternate appearance (texture map or geometry) for a character model in a video game.
7. (countable, slang) Rolling paper for cigarettes.
   Pass me a skin, mate.
8. (countable, slang) Clipping of skinhead.
   By the end of the show, fights would break out all over the place: the Atlantic City skins against the crew from Philly; the oldschool skinheads feuding with overzealous fresh-cuts. 2017, Christian Picciolini, White American Youth
9. (Australia) A subgroup of Australian aboriginal people; such divisions are cultural and not related to an individual′s physical skin.
   The younger brother questions the correctness of the pursuit of the girls. "They may be of the wrong subsection," he suggests. "We can take wrong skins," says the older brother, but the younger still holds back. 1984, Maxwell John Charlesworth, Howard Morphy, Diane Bell, Religion in Aboriginal Australia: An Anthology, page 361
10. (slang) Bare flesh, particularly bare breasts.
    Let me see a bit of skin.
11. A vessel made of skin, used for holding liquids.
    the Bacchic train, Who brought their skins of wine, and loaded poles That bent with mighty clusters of black grapes 1843, Richard Henry Horne, Orion
12. (nautical) That part of a sail, when furled, which remains on the outside and covers the whole.
    The skin of the sail is made of stretch-resistant Mylar (Can we date this quote?), “Textile Technology Digest”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
13. (nautical) The covering, as of planking or iron plates, outside the framing, forming the sides and bottom of a vessel; the shell; also, a lining inside the framing.
14. (aviation) The outer surface covering much of the wings and fuselage of an aircraft.
15. A drink of whisky served hot.
16. (slang, Ireland, Britain) person, chap
    He was a decent old skin.
    PAUDI:”I fucking love the pair of ye! You’re good lads. You’re loyal skins” 2019, Joe Murragh, Colin Barrett, 54:50 from the start, in Calm With Horses (film), spoken by Paudi (Ned Dennehy)
17. (UK, thieves slang, obsolete) A purse.
    […] and away I scampered with the tiddlywink-table, while Teddy Limber […] frisked the yokel of his yack and skin. 1863, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of the Court of London, volume 3, page 86

verb

1. (transitive) To injure the skin of.
   He fell off his bike and skinned his knee on the concrete.
2. (transitive) To remove the skin and/or fur of an animal or a human.
3. (colloquial) To high five.
4. (transitive, computing, colloquial) To apply a skin to (a computer program).
   Can I skin the application to put the picture of my cat on it?
5. (UK, soccer, transitive) To use tricks to go past a defender.
   The Russian, sometimes out of sorts in recent weeks, was seeing plenty of the ball on the left-hand side up against Hunt, a 20-year-old right-back making his first Huddersfield start. Arshavin skinned the youngster at the first opportunity and crossed for Bendtner, who could not direct his close-range effort on target. January 30, 2011, Kevin Darlng, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Huddersfield”, in BBC
6. (intransitive) To become covered with skin.
   A wound eventually skins over.
7. (transitive) To cover with skin, or as if with skin; hence, to cover superficially.
8. (US, slang, archaic) To produce, in recitation, examination, etc., the work of another for one's own, or to use cribs, memoranda, etc., which are prohibited.
9. (slang, dated) To strip of money or property; to cheat.