skinny

Formsskinnier, skinniest

Pluralskinnies (some meanings)

Formsskinnies, skinnying, skinnied

1. 1
   adjectivecolloquial

   Thin, generally in an unflattering sense, unlike slim, which describes thinness as attractive.

   He was a skinny kid with knobby knees and glasses too big for his face.

   After months of illness she looked skinnier than ever.

   Similarthin, scrawny, bony, lanky, gaunt

   Oppositefat, chubby, plump, heavy

   Note

   In Middle English skinny simply meant “like skin”, skin plus -y. The thin meaning may come from the phrase skin and bones, which is why it pictures a frame with little covering it rather than a graceful figure, and why slim is the kinder choice. The bare skin behind the naked sense is a separate branch of the same word.

2. 2
   tight (clothes)adjective

   Of clothing, cut to fit tightly against the body.

   He showed up in skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

   She traded her skinny pants for a pair of wide-leg ones.

   Similartight, slim, fitted

   Oppositebaggy, loose

3. 3
   inside factsnouncolloquialuncountable

   The details or facts about something, especially ones learned through gossip or rumor.

   Give me the skinny on the new manager before I meet her.

   The real skinny, according to the receptionist, is that the merger is off.

   Similarlowdown, scoop, dope

4. 4
   fewer caloriesadjectivecolloquial

   Of food or drink, made with less fat or fewer calories than usual.

   She ordered a skinny vanilla latte and a fruit cup.

   The bar's skinny margarita skips the sugary mix in favor of fresh lime.

   Similarlight, low-fat

   Oppositefull-fat

   Note

   On a menu the word promises less fat or fewer calories, but what it changes depends on the order. Skinny milk has had its fat removed, and a skinny latte is made with it, while Fancy AF Cocktails (2019) explains that a skinny margarita swaps sugary sweet-and-sour mix for lime juice or agave. Unlike thin in the unflattering sense, here skinny is a selling point.

5. 5
   cup of coffeenouncolloquialcountable

   A serving of coffee made low in fat.

   She grabbed a skinny on her way into the office.

   Two skinnies and a black coffee, please.

6. 6
   naked (dipping)adjective

   Without clothes; naked, chiefly in the phrase skinny dipping.

   A few counselors were caught skinny-dipping in the lake after lights out.

   Skinny dipping in the town fountain earned the two students a night in a cell.

   Similarnaked, nude

   Oppositeclothed, dressed

   Note

   It works after a verb rather than before a noun: people swim skinny or sleep skinny, and a dip can be “skinny or otherwise.” Skinny dipping is where most readers meet it; anywhere else, without a verb of swimming or sleeping beside it, the word will be heard as thin.

7. 7
   cut downverbcolloquialtransitive

   To reduce or cut down, especially in size or number, often in the phrase skinny down.

   The committee skinnied the list of candidates to three finalists.

   Many firms skinny down when the economy slows, closing offices and trimming staff.

   Similartrim, pare, whittle, downsize, shrink

   Oppositeexpand

   Note

   Business writing pairs it with down: in Ward's Auto World in 1982 some importers were “skinnying down”, and a bankruptcy judge described “skinnying the company down”. It works with or without an object, a firm skinnies down or skinnies its list down. The spelling keeps the y before -ing but turns it to i before -ed: skinnying, skinnied.

8. 8
   thin personnounnonstandardcountable

   A thin person or other creature.

   "Hey, skinny, want some of my fries?" his uncle called across the table.

   The gym's ads promise to turn skinnies into bodybuilders in twelve weeks.

   Similarbeanpole

   Note

   It is nonstandard, a noun made straight from the adjective, and it turns up in casual speech and fiction rather than careful writing, where a thin person is the usual phrase. Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) makes it the soldiers' name for an alien enemy. Said to someone's face, as in “Hey, skinny”, it carries the same unflattering edge as the adjective.

9. 9
   noununcountable

   The state of being naked, usually in the phrase in the skinny.

   The old photos show the whole family swimming in the skinny at the lake.

   After that sunburn, he swore he'd never lie on the beach in the skinny again.

   Similarnude, buff, altogether

10. 10
    golfadjective

    In golf, of a shot, struck with the bottom part of the clubhead; thin.

    His skinny wedge raced across the green and into the far bunker.

    Nerves got to her, and she hit the chip a little skinny.

    Similarthin

    Oppositefat

    Note

    The leading edge of the club meets the ball near its middle, so a skinny shot comes off low and hot, with little spin, and tends to run past the target. Thin names the same miss. The opposite fault is a fat shot, where the club strikes the ground before the ball.

11. 11
    narrow fencenouncountable

    A narrow fence set up as an obstacle for a horse to jump.

    The cross-country course ends with a skinny that punishes any rider who lets the horse drift.

    Coaches set up skinnies in the arena to teach young horses to jump straight.

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