+ Search by Radical
Search for
PETS rank
Listen
Print Font Size
Collins English-Chinese Dictionary
Comprehensive English-Chinese Dictionary
Collins English-English Dictionary
- skeleton ['skεlɪtən]
-
-
1.
n
a hard framework consisting of inorganic material that supports and protects the soft parts of an animal's body and provides attachment for muscles: may be internal (an endoskeleton), as in vertebrates, or external( an exoskeleton), as in arthropods - See also endoskeleton exoskeleton
-
2.
n
[informal]
a very thin emaciated person or animal
-
3.
n
the essential framework of any structure, such as a building or leaf, that supports or determines the shape of the rest of the structure
-
4.
n
an outline consisting of bare essentials
- the skeleton of a novel
-
5.
n
[modifier]
reduced to a minimum
- a skeleton staff
-
6.
n
[Etymology]
C16: via New Latin from Greek: something desiccated, from skellein to dry up
-
1.
n
a hard framework consisting of inorganic material that supports and protects the soft parts of an animal's body and provides attachment for muscles: may be internal (an endoskeleton), as in vertebrates, or external( an exoskeleton), as in arthropods - See also endoskeleton exoskeleton
Examples
- a skeleton force
- 骨干力量 → skeleton
- a cursorial skeleton → cursorial
- the skeleton of a novel → skeleton
- a skeleton staff → skeleton
- a subcartilaginous skeleton → subcartilaginous
- 瘦得只剩个骨头架子
- be reduced to a skeleton; be all skin and bones → 骨头架子
- 揭了他的老底
- exposed his old secret; dragged the skeleton out of his closet → 揭底
- 揭老底
- dredge up some embarrassing facts about sb.'s past; drag the skeleton out of sb.'s closet → 老底
- 形骸
- the human skeleton; the human body → 骸
- 他已经病得形销骨立了, 不知还能挺多久。
- He is so sick that he is as thin as a skeleton. No one knows how much longer he can hold out. → 骨立
Would you like to know more about this word? Simply click the button on the right to ask real people.
You can also check your questions and answers at ‘ My nciku > Posts ’.
