Skink definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SKINK, n.
1. Drink; pottage.
2. (L. scincus) A small lizard of Egypt; also, the common name of a genus of lizards, with a long body entirely covered with rounded imbricate scales, all natives of warm climates.
SKINK, v.i. To bestow, to make a present. To serve drink.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: alert agile lizard with reduced limbs and an elongated body covered with shiny scales; more dependent on moisture than most lizards; found in tropical regions worldwide [syn: skink, scincid, scincid lizard]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Middle Dutch schenken; akin to Old English scencan to pour out drink and probably to scanca shank Date: 15th century chiefly dialect to draw, pour out, or serve (drink) II. noun Etymology: Latin scincus, from Greek skinkos Date: 1590 any of a family (Scincidae) of typically small insectivorous lizards with long tapering bodies

Britannica Concise

Any of about 1,275 species (family Scincidae) of lizards found throughout the tropics and in temperate regions of N. America. Skinks have a cylindrical body, a conical head, and a long, tapering tail. Some species are 26 in. (66 cm) long, but most are under 8 in. (20 cm). Some have small or no limbs and sunken eardrums. Most are ground-dwellers or burrowers; some are arboreal or semiaquatic. Skinks eat insects and other small invertebrates; large species are herbivorous. Some species lay eggs; others bear live young.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any small lizard of the family Scincidae. Etymology: F scinc or L scincus f. Gk skigkos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skink Skink, v. i. To serve or draw liquor. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skink Skink, n. Drink; also, pottage. [Obs.] --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skink Skink, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Skinked; p. pr. & vb. n. Skinking.] [Icel. skenja; akin to Sw. sk["a]ka, Dan. skienke, AS. scencan, D. & G. schenken. As. scencan is usually derived from sceonc, sceanc, shank, a hollow bone being supposed to have been used to draw off liquor from a cask. [root]161. See Shank, and cf. Nunchion.] To draw or serve, as drink. [Obs.] Bacchus the wine them skinketh all about. --Chaucer. Such wine as Ganymede doth skink to Jove. --Shirley.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Skink Skink, n. [L. scincus, Gr. ????.] [Written also scink.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of regularly scaled harmless lizards of the family Scincid[ae], common in the warmer parts of all the continents. Note: The officinal skink (Scincus officinalis) inhabits the sandy plains of South Africa. It was believed by the ancients to be a specific for various diseases. A common slender species (Seps tridactylus) of Southern Europe was formerly believed to produce fatal diseases in cattle by mere contact. The American skinks include numerous species of the genus Eumeces, as the blue-tailed skink (E. fasciatus) of the Eastern United States. The ground skink, or ground lizard (Oligosoma laterale) inhabits the Southern United States.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To skink, is to wait on the company, ring the bell, stir the fire, and snuff the candles; the duty of the youngest officer in the military mess. See BOOTS.