skink

Meanings

Noun

• A shin of beef.
• A soup or pottage made from a boiled shin of beef.
• Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a soup or pottage made using other ingredients.
• A lizard of the family Scincidae, having small or reduced limbs or none at all and long tails that are regenerated when shed; a sandfish.
• A drink.

Verb

• To serve (a drink).
• To give as a present.

Origin

• Possibly from Middle Low German schink, schinke, schenke, from Old Saxon skinka, from Proto-West Germanic *skinkō ("shank; thigh; that which is bent"), from Proto-Germanic *skinkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- ("to limp; to be crooked, slant").
• The word is cognate with Danish skinke ("ham"), Middle Dutch schenke, schinke, Icelandic skinka ("ham"), Norwegian skinke ("ham"), Old English ġesċincio, ġesċinco, Old High German skinka, skinko (Middle High German schinke ("shank; shin bone; ham"), modern German Schinken ("ham; pork from the hindquarters")), Old Saxon skinka ("ham"), Old Swedish skinke (modern Swedish skinka ("ham")).
• From Middle French scinc, from Latin scincus, from Ancient Greek σκίγγος, σκίγκος.
• Image:Cape Skink Flowers.jpg|A skink among flowers in South Africa|thumb|right
• From Middle English skinken, skynken, skenken, from Middle Dutch scinken, scenken, schenken and/or Old Norse skenkja, both from Proto-Germanic *skankijaną. Cognate with German schenken ("to give as a present"), Dutch schenken ("to pour, give as a present"). See also the inherited doublet shink.