skellum
skellum noun: a scoundrel.
Noun (1)
skellum (plural skellums)
- A scoundrel.
- Dr. Creeton, [Robert Creighton] the Scotchman, […] ripped up Hugh Peters (calling him the execrable skellum), his preaching and stirring up the maids of the city to bring in their bodkins and thimbles.1663 April 3, Samuel Pepys, Diary
- O Tam! had'st thou but been sae wise,
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum;
That frae November till October,
Ae market-day thou was na sober.1791, Robert Burns, Tam O' Shanter, lines 17–22
Noun (2)
skellum (plural skellums)
- A rogue.
Forms of skellum
| plural | skellums |
|---|
Origin of skellum
From Danish skælm, from Middle Low German; cognate to German Schelm.
From Afrikaans skelm, from German Schelm or Middle Low German; cognate to etymology 1.
Words that rhyme with skellum
- scutellum
- flagellum
- rostellum
- antebellum
- flabellum
- labellum
- postbellum
- vellum
- Abelam
- archicerebellum
- capitellum
- cerebellum
9 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about skellum
- What does skellum mean?
- Skellum means a scoundrel.
- What part of speech is skellum?
- Skellum is a noun.
- What is the plural of skellum?
- The plural of skellum is skellums.
Words near skellum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skellum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “skellum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skellum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.