different between skimpy vs skimp

English

Etymology

From skimp +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?mpi/
• Rhymes: -?mpi

Adjective

skimpy (comparative skimpier, superlative skimpiest)

1. Small or inadequate; not generous, or of a garment, very small, light, or revealing.

Translations

Noun

skimpy (plural skimpies)

1. (Australia, Western Australia) A barmaid who wears little clothing. [From 1988.]
   • 2000, Australian Journal of Mining, page 2,

     It's a curious mix: weatherworn miners, fresh faced bankers, and a couple of g-stringed skimpies.

   • 2007, Terry Carter, Lara Dunston, Perth & Western Australia, Lonely Planet, page 159,

     For an anthropological experience, the front bar at the Exchange Hotel provides a window into some locals? lives at all hours of the day, with skimpies, TV sports and mine workers chain-drinking.

   • 2010, Kathy Marks, Tears of the Sun, Robert Drewe (editor), The Best Australian Essays 2010, page 239,

     ‘ […] There are thirty-two hotels in Kalgoorlie, and only seven would have skimpies [scantily clad barmaids].’

Derived terms

• skimpy work

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /sk?mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Etymology 1

Perhaps of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skimpijan?. Cognate with Icelandic skimpa (“to scoff at, scorn”), German schimpfen (“to grumble, scold”), Dutch schimpen (“to mock, make fun of, scold”).

Verb

skimp (third-person singular simple present skimps, present participle skimping, simple past and past participle skimped)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To mock, deride, scorn, scold, make fun of.

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Etymology 2

Probably related to scamp and scrimp.

Verb

skimp (third-person singular simple present skimps, present participle skimping, simple past and past participle skimped)

1. (transitive) To slight; to do carelessly; to scamp.
2. To make insufficient allowance for; to scant; to scrimp.
3. (intransitive) To save; to be parsimonious or stingy.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:skimp.

Related terms

• skimpily
• skimpy

Translations

Adjective

skimp (comparative more skimp, superlative most skimp)

1. (dated, Britain, dialect or US, colloquial) Scanty.

Noun

skimp (plural skimps)

1. A skimpy or insubstantial thing, especially a piece of clothing.
   • 2007, George Ella Lyon, With a Hammer for my Heart, p. 192:

     I remembered how fierce it hurt and how it blistered. All that pain from just a skimp of flesh.

2. (in the plural, colloquial) Underwear.
   • 2007, Zoo Today:

     While presenting a rundown of the sexiest soap stars in the world in this week's ZOO, Hollyoaks' Gemma Atkinson very kindly stripped down to her skimps herself.

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.