Dictionary

skerrick en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˈskeɹɪk/ (Australia)
• /ˈskɛɹɪk/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Origin uncertain, possibly a variant of scuddick (“(Northern England, Southwestern England, slang) very small amount; small coin or other object”), possibly related to scud (“(UK, dialectal, dated) piece of twisted straw used to stop up a drain”, noun), scud (“(UK, dialectal, dated) to form straw into scuds”, verb); further etymology unknown.

Meanings

1. (Australia, New-Zealand, dialectal, in the negative) A very small amount or portion; the least bit.
   • He stood in front of Vonnie Kyle and his eyes examined hers with every skerrick of judgment he could muster. 1982, Paul John Radley, chapter 12, in My Blue-checker Corker and Me, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Ticknor & Fields, published 1986, →ISBN, page 141:
   • Blue deepened in the east, the few skerricks of cloud went all the shades of pastel. 1973, Chester Eagle, “Part Ten: Going Back, Going Forward”, in Who Could Love the Nightingale?, Melbourne, Vic.: Wren Publishing, →ISBN, page 285:
   • "I take visitors out to the Poor Knights today, and they're so excited by the fish life they're just about walking on water," says Wade Doak, one of the country's pioneer divers and underwater naturalists. "And all I can think is that they're seeing a crumb, a skerrick of what it once was." 2007 April, Kennedy Warne, “Blue Haven”, in Chris Johns, editor, National Geographic, volume 211, number 4, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 78, column 2:
   • When he reached this point in his madness, it disabled whatever skerrick of common sense he might have had even to save himself. 2006, Alexis Wright, “Number One House”, in Carpentaria […], 1st Atria Books hardcover edition, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, published April 2009, →ISBN, page 117:
   • From the crate beneath him, Reed fished up a can of aerated mineral water. A label said it had been treated according to most scrupulous hygienic standards. It had been filtered through porcelain and centrifuged until every last skerrick of life had succumbed. Reed read the label and gazed afresh on to the plain of dust. In a world of unscrupulous sterility, skerricks of life down there were scuttling around vigorously. 1969, Clive Barry, Fly Jamskoni, London: Faber and Faber […], →ISBN, page 54:

Forms

Synonyms

flip · smidget · skosh · bit · scantling · modicum · crumb · morceau · skerrick · grain · trace · scrap · relish · scooch · glint · trifle · diddly · soupçon · shred · sprinkle · glimpse · atom · dusting · thought · smithereen · whiff · tuppence worth · touch · smidge · skosh · skoosh · inch · jot · scruple · whit · hoot · pinch · semblance · hooter · tittle · tidbit · piece · scent · spatter · pennyworth · smitch · continental · tad · ounce · scintilla · trace · fleck · toddick · speck · flyspeck · mite · tinge · halfpennyworth · tidge · vestige · ooch · whit · damn · dab · particle · morsel · smattering · sliver · ace · sprinkling · bissel · spot · mote · dot · molecule · spark · glimmer · shred · iota · smidgy · atomy · smidgen · speckle · hint · dash · strain · lick · drop · aught