skeleton
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Skeleton \Skel"e*ton\, a.
Consisting of, or resembling, a skeleton; consisting merely
of the framework or outlines; having only certain leading
features of anything; as, a skeleton sermon; a skeleton
crystal.
[1913 Webster]
{Skeleton bill}, a bill or draft made out in blank as to the
amount or payee, but signed by the acceptor. [Eng.]
{Skeleton key}, a key with nearly the whole substance of the
web filed away, to adapt it to avoid the wards of a lock;
a master key; -- used for opening locks to which it has
not been especially fitted.
{Skeleton leaf}, a leaf from which the pulpy part has been
removed by chemical means, the fibrous part alone
remaining.
{Skeleton proof}, a proof of a print or engraving, with the
inscription outlined in hair strokes only, such proofs
being taken before the engraving is finished.
{Skeleton regiment}, a regiment which has its complement of
officers, but in which there are few enlisted men.
{Skeleton shrimp} (Zool.), a small crustacean of the genus
{Caprella}. See Illust. under {Laemodipoda}.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Skeleton \Skel"e*ton\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ???? (sc. ???) a dried
body, a mummy, fr. ???? dried up, parched, ???? to dry, dry
up, parch.]
1. (Anat.)
(a) The bony and cartilaginous framework which supports
the soft parts of a vertebrate animal.
Note: [See Illust. of the Human Skeleton, in Appendix.]
(b) The more or less firm or hardened framework of an
invertebrate animal.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In a wider sense, the skeleton includes the whole
connective-tissue framework with the integument and its
appendages. See {Endoskeleton}, and {Exoskeleton}.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence, figuratively:
(a) A very thin or lean person.
(b) The framework of anything; the principal parts that
support the rest, but without the appendages.
[1913 Webster]
The great skeleton of the world. --Sir M. Hale.
[1913 Webster]
(c) The heads and outline of a literary production,
especially of a sermon.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
167 Moby Thesaurus words for "skeleton":
abbreviation, abbreviature, abrege, abridgment, abstract,
adumbrate, anatomy, appendicular skeleton, ashes, axial skeleton,
backing, barebones, bean pole, beanstalk, bearing, block out,
blueprint, body, bones, brief, broomstick, brouillon, bushing,
cadaver, cadre, capsule, carcass, carrion, cartoon, case, casement,
casing, chalk, chart, chassis, clay, clothes pole, compend,
condensation, condensed version, configuration, conspectus,
contour, copy, corpse, corpus delicti, crowbait, dead body,
dead man, dead person, decedent, delineation, design, diagram,
digest, doorframe, draft, drawing, dry bones, dust, earth, ebauche,
elevation, embalmed corpse, epitome, esquisse, exoskeleton, fabric,
features, figuration, figure, food for worms, frame, framework,
framing, gestalt, graph, ground plan, gruel, head, house plan,
hulk, ichnography, infrastructure, lanky, late lamented, lath,
lattice, latticework, lineaments, lines, main features,
mere shadow, mere wreck, mortal remains, mount, mounting,
mummification, mummy, nervous wreck, organic remains, outline,
overview, pandect, paper, pattern, picture frame, plot, precis,
profile, projection, rail, rake, rattlebones, rattletrap, relics,
relief, reliquiae, remains, review, rough, rubric, ruin, ruins,
sash, setting, shadow, shapes, shaving, shell, shortened version,
silhouette, skeletal, sketch, slat, slim, slip, soup, spindlelegs,
spindleshanks, splinter, stack of bones, stiff, stilt, streak,
survey, syllabus, synopsis, table, tenement of clay, the dead,
the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
thumbnail sketch, topical outline, tournure, twiggy, underframe,
vein, wafer, walking skeleton, window case, window frame,
working drawing, wreck
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