skeleton

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the frame of bones that supports the body of a person or animal

   The human skeleton is made up of more than two hundred bones.

2. 2
   noun

   the basic frame or structure that gives something its shape

   The building's steel skeleton was finished before the walls went up.

3. 3
   noun

   a secret, often embarrassing, that a person or family keeps hidden

   Every family has a skeleton or two in the closet.

From New Latin sceleton, from Ancient Greek σκελετόν (skeletón), the neuter of σκελετός (skeletós, “dried up, withered, dried body, parched, mummy”), from σκέλλω (skéllō, “dry, dry up, make dry, parch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh₁- (“to parch, wither”); compare Ancient Greek σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”).

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