skell

Meanings

Noun

• a homeless person, especially one who sleeps in the New York subway.
• A male suspicious person or crime suspect, especially a street person such as a drug dealer, pimp or panhandler.

Verb

• To fall off or fall over.

Origin

• Perhaps from skeleton, describing the often skeletal appearance of drug users.
• Alternatively, from skellum or skelder ("to beg in the streets"). Used by Ben Jonson, 1599.
• In the sense of a suspicious person, popularized by the American TV police drama NYPD Blue.