skeeter

See also: Skeeter

English

Etymology 1

Respelling of a lax pronunciation of the final syllables of mosquito.

Noun

skeeter (plural skeeters)

1. (US, informal) A mosquito.
   • 1973, “Swamp Witch”, in Jim Stafford (lyrics), Jim Stafford, performed by Jim Stafford:

     One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
     And the swamp water overflowed.
     Skeeters and the fever grabbed the town like a fist
     Doctor Jackson was the first to go.

Derived terms

• skeeter hawk
• skeeter syndrome

 

Translations

mosquito — see mosquito

Etymology 2

Verb

skeeter (third-person singular simple present skeeters, present participle skeetering, simple past and past participle skeetered)

1. To skitter.
   • 1975, Frank Trippett, Child Ellen, page 342:

     They skeetered out and then made an elegant racing turn and skeetered directly into her.

   • 2010, Michael D. Langan, When I Was a Boy, →ISBN, page 25:

     The iceman skeetered here and there, with his brown gabardine trousers dripping over his work shoes and drooping from his hip-less waist.

   • 2011, Michael Asher, Sands of Death: An Epic Tale Of Massacre And Survival In The Sahara, →ISBN:

     Bullets skeetered across the rocks, snapping off fragments in deadly shrapnel bursts, gouging furrows in the serir around the advancing men.

   • 2018, Rosie Walsh, The Man Who Didn't Call:

     A twilight fox skeetered across the car park.

Anagrams

• Keeters, keester