skeleton Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun something reduced to its minimal form
- the battalion was a mere skeleton of its former self
- the bare skeleton of a novel
noun a scandal that is kept secret
skeleton in the cupboard; skeleton in the closet.
- there must be a skeleton somewhere in that family's closet
noun the hard structure (bones and cartilages) that provides a frame for the body of an animal
skeletal system; systema skeletale; frame.
noun the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape
frame; underframe; skeletal frame.
- the building has a steel skeleton

NL., fr. Gr. (sc. ) a dried body, a mummy, fr. dried up, parched, to dry, dry up, parch.

(Anat.) (a) The bony and cartilaginous framework which supports the soft parts of a vertebrate animal. See Illust. of the Human Skeleton, in Appendix. (b) The more or less firm or hardened framework of an invertebrate animal. ✍ In a wider sense, the skeleton includes the whole connective-tissue framework with the integument and its appendages. See Endoskeleton, and Exoskeleton.
Hence, figuratively: (a) A very thin or lean person. (b) The framework of anything; the principal parts that support the rest, but without the appendages.
The great skeleton of the world. Sir M. Hale.
(c) The heads and outline of a literary production, especially of a sermon.

Consisting of, or resembling, a skeleton; consisting merely of the framework or outlines; having only certain leading features of anything; as, a skeleton sermon; a skeleton crystal.