Skell

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A disparaging term for a person regarded as disreputable or undesirable; an informal word often used to describe a vagrant or someone considered low-class or untrustworthy; slang referring to a person of questionable character or social standing
2. A colloquial expression for an individual viewed as unkempt or morally questionable; used informally to denote someone who is socially marginalized or seen as a troublemaker; a slang label for a person perceived as dishonest or rough
3. An informal designation for a person considered shabby or unreliable; typically applied to those who are homeless or involved in petty crime; a pejorative term for someone lacking respectability or social acceptance

Etymology: The most striking thing about "skell" is how little certainty surrounds it. One possible origin lies in "skeleton," with the idea that the gaunt, hollow-cheeked look of heavy drug users gave rise to a slang term for them. Another candidate is "skellum" or "skelder," an older word meaning "to beg in the streets." The playwright Ben Jonson used "skellum" in 1599, so the rogue-beggar sense has a respectable literary pedigree, and the two possible roots are at least connected by their shared picture of a wretched, marginal figure. The word's current flavour owes a good deal to American television. Its sense of a shabby, untrustworthy person was popularised by the police drama "NYPD Blue," which put it into the mouths of officers and suspects and carried it into everyday speech. Before that, it was largely a street term, and its exact path from the older dialect word to the modern slang remains unclear.

Synonyms: bum, vagrant, homeless person, tramp, drifter

Antonyms: citizen, resident, inhabitant, homeowner, settler