skinned

1. 1
   adjectivein compounds

   Having skin of a specified color, thickness, or texture.

   The portrait showed a dark-skinned woman in flowing robes.

   Thick-skinned varieties of grape resist bruising during transport.

   Note

   Rarely used alone, it works as the second half of a compound joined to a word for color, thickness or texture: dark-skinned, thick-skinned, fuzzy-skinned. Hyphenate the compound before a noun, as in brown fuzzy-skinned fruits. The compound does not take more or most. Instead of calling a fruit "more fuzzy-skinned," say it has a fuzzier skin.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having the skin or a similar outer covering wholly or partly removed.

   The cook tossed a few skinned almonds into the pan.

   A skinned rabbit hung in the cold larder, ready for the pot.

   Similarpeeled, flayed

   Note

   Here the verb's participle has become an adjective. It is the counterpart of the "having skin" meaning explained there. It covers two different scenes. One is deliberate removal, as with skinned almonds or a rabbit readied for the pot. The other is accidental scraping, as in skinned knuckles that hurt until the scrape heals. With knees and knuckles it means grazed, not flayed.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of skin.

   The chef skinned the salmon fillet with a single smooth cut.

   He skinned both elbows sliding across the gravel.

   Note

   One form serves every use of the verb. A cook skinned the fish, a fall skinned an elbow, and in colloquial use a program can be skinned with a new look. The n doubles before -ed, as in grinned. The verb can also be intransitive, meaning a surface becomes covered with skin, so the form can describe a healing wound that has skinned with no object at all.

4. 4
   adjective

   Possessing skin as the body's outer covering.

   Amphibians are skinned rather than scaled, and they can absorb oxygen through that surface.

   The biologist explained that these animals are skinned, with no plates or shells of any kind.

   Note

   Two words share this spelling, and they point in opposite directions. This one is built from the noun skin plus -ed meaning "having," like bearded or winged. The other comes from the verb, and its the "skin removed" meaning says the skin is gone. Context has to show which one is meant: "skinned rather than scaled" can only be the covering.

5. 5
   adjective

   Covered with a thin membrane or film that resembles skin, such as the film on a cooling liquid.

   Once the paint dried on top, the can's surface was skinned but still wet underneath.

   The simmering broth was skinned with a delicate film that the cook lifted away.

   Similarcrusted

6. 6
   adjectiveslang

   Stripped of one's money or property, left with nothing of value.

   The con artist left his victims utterly skinned, with empty wallets and worthless contracts.

   Three bad bets and she was skinned, unable to cover even the rent.

   Similarbroke, penniless, skint, destitute

   Oppositeflush, loaded, rich

   Note

   This slang sense takes its force from the verb of flaying: a person who is skinned has been stripped as bare as a hide taken off an animal. It usually follows a verb, as in left skinned or was skinned, rather than coming before a noun. Keep it for casual talk, because in careful writing it reads plainly as slang.

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