sky

Etymology

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], 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”). The verb is derived from the noun. cognates The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

noun

1. 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.
   That year, a meteor fell from the sky.
   Blue skies / Smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies / Do I see 1926, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Blue Skies”
2. 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.
3. (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.
4. Ellipsis of sky blue.
5. (mathematics, theoretical physics) The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.
6. (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.
7. (obsolete) A cloud.

verb

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.
      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. 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
   3. (slang, dated) To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).
      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; […] 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
   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.
         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. 8 September 2009, Geoff Baker, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in The Seattle Times, Seattle, Wash.: The Seattle Times Company, published 29 November 2012, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-09-18
         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. 22 January 2011, Tim Love, “Arsenal 3 – 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2021-03-25
   5. (obsolete) To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
   2. (sports)
      1. (ball games) To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
      2. (rowing) To raise an oar too high above the water.