Icelandic edit

Verb edit

skelf

  1. first-person singular active present indicative of skjálfa

Scots edit

Etymology 1 edit

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

Noun edit

skelf (plural skelfs)

  1. A splinter or sliver of wood.
  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 edit

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

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

skelf (plural skelfs)

  1. Shelf.

Verb edit

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.