skelf

Icelandic

Verb

skelf

1. first-person singular active present indicative of skjálfa

Scots

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle Dutch schelf (“a scale, flake or splinter of wood”).

Noun

skelf (plural skelfs)

1. A splinter or sliver of wood.

   Synonym: spail

2. A thin or diminutive person.
   • 1992, Iain Banks, The Crow Road:

     'Like I say; I could have got the baby-sitter to help me with him, but she's just a skelf...not our regular girl.'

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology 2

From Middle English schelfe and Old Norse skjalf, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skelfō.

Alternative forms

• schelf, shelf, skelff, scelf, skelfe, skellff, skalf, skalff, scalve

Noun

skelf (plural skelfs)

1. Shelf.

Verb

skelf (third-person singular simple present skelfs, present participle skelfin, simple past skelft, past participle skelft)

1. To lay or set (a person or thing) up, as on a high shelf; to elevate in importance.