<noun.quantity> the battalion was a mere skeleton of its former self the bare skeleton of a novel
a scandal that is kept secret
<noun.event> there must be a skeleton somewhere in that family's closet
the hard structure (bones and cartilages) that provides a frame for the body of an animal
<noun.body>
the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape
<noun.artifact> the building has a steel skeleton
Skeleton \Skel"e*ton\, a. Consisting of, or resembling, a skeleton; consisting merely of the framework or outlines; having only certain leading features of anything; as, a skeleton sermon; a skeleton crystal.
{Skeleton bill}, a bill or draft made out in blank as to the amount or payee, but signed by the acceptor. [Eng.]
{Skeleton key}, a key with nearly the whole substance of the web filed away, to adapt it to avoid the wards of a lock; a master key; -- used for opening locks to which it has not been especially fitted.
{Skeleton leaf}, a leaf from which the pulpy part has been removed by chemical means, the fibrous part alone remaining.
{Skeleton proof}, a proof of a print or engraving, with the inscription outlined in hair strokes only, such proofs being taken before the engraving is finished.
{Skeleton regiment}, a regiment which has its complement of officers, but in which there are few enlisted men.
{Skeleton shrimp} (Zo["o]l.), a small crustacean of the genus {Caprella}. See Illust. under {L[ae]modipoda}.
Skeleton \Skel"e*ton\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ???? (sc. ???) a dried body, a mummy, fr. ???? dried up, parched, ???? to dry, dry up, parch.] 1. (Anat.) (a) The bony and cartilaginous framework which supports the soft parts of a vertebrate animal.
Note: [See Illust. of the Human Skeleton, in Appendix.] (b) The more or less firm or hardened framework of an invertebrate animal.
Note: In a wider sense, the skeleton includes the whole connective-tissue framework with the integument and its appendages. See {Endoskeleton}, and {Exoskeleton}.
2. Hence, figuratively: (a) A very thin or lean person. (b) The framework of anything; the principal parts that support the rest, but without the appendages.
The great skeleton of the world. --Sir M. Hale. (c) The heads and outline of a literary production, especially of a sermon.
The car that held the second bomb also was reduced to a twisted black metal skeleton.
"Try as we may, we do our very best to approximate the skeleton, but you just cannot duplicate Mother Nature," Herndon said.
Tours were canceled Saturday and only a skeleton staff of aides and attendants were allowed to come to work.
A large skeleton of black metal bars shaped like a spider fans out across the playing area.
"There's really no one we can't sell to," Jerry Smith, director of special projects, said recently. "We have something for everybody." Medical Plastics is now in its fourth decade of taking a human skeleton, making molds and duplicating it.
Howard's skeleton was still partially clad in jeans and hiking boots.
Hotels are operating with skeleton staffs, offices are empty, and many university classes have stopped meeting.
In the Midas burial chamber, excavators found remains of tables, inlaid wooden screens, bronze and leather belts, bronze cauldrons and other items lying beside the skeleton of the king.
But their hearings are often love fests with a friendly senator presiding, and confirmation frequently comes without a formal vote with only a skeleton crew of senators on the floor.
Eastern has been flying a skeleton schedule since the IAM walkout.
They know their efforts could be wiped out by the liquidation of their company or a housecleaning by a new owner, but a group of Eastern employees is keeping up a skeleton operation at the strikebound carrier.
At most, three patrol cars cruised the city Thursday, police chief Ed Garnett said. "We're at skeleton now," Garnett said, but the public was "helping out quite a bit" by not making unnecessary calls to dispatchers.
Many businesses in Soweto and neighboring Johannesburg were forced to close or operate with skeleton staffs.
From time to time the featureless landscape, too dry even for shrubs, releases a stilled skeleton or exposes a mine.
"The market is already semi-closed," said one dealer in Rome. Banks have only skeleton staffs on duty and are limiting business to postition-squaring and to serving corporate customers with some last-minute requirements, he said.
The company plans to build an android orchestra, a robotized skeleton riding a bicycle and a mechanical plant that will respond to temperature, light and human activity, such as people quarreling.
Three state-run hospitals were staffed by skeleton crews to handle emergencies.
When Binney & Smith held a special ceremony to enshrine the eight old colors in the Crayola Hall of Fame, Mr. Pagani staged the protest march with the coffin and the skeleton.
After the skeleton was recovered, pathologists determined Bean had been beaten on the head and chest.
Public hospitals maintained skeleton crews for emergencies only as doctors and staff staged a 24-hour strike to demand higher wages and to protest the allocation in the budget for health services.
What will he miss the most? "That," he said simply, pointing to the 5-foot-tall skeleton of a fir tree that looked like it was welded out of iron.
A clear plastic covers the skeleton, giving the robot a human shape.
Affidavits released today show that authorities found a skeleton buried in the police chief's yard after being told the man died during a fight with the chief, who is now married to the victim's ex-wife.
Under the circumstances and given the length of time since the last victim's skeleton was turned up, the experts said the New Bedford murderer or murderers may never be caught.
In fact, back in 1887, people living around the tower work site were appalndre Gustave Eifled by the "giant and disgraceful skeleton." Engineers warned it would collapse and a lawsuit tried to halt construction.
Horner, head of paleontology at the museum, said the scientific value of the T-rex skeleton is limited, but it will be a big drawing card for the museum.
For a second day, skeleton crews at embassies in Kuwait City defied an Iraqi order to close their missions.
A skeleton wearing old shoes discovered in an underwater cave is believed by many to be the remains of Jess Preston, the subject of 50-year-old lore in this north Florida town.
Many such small fry trim back to skeleton crews of family members and take to remodeling kitchens or patching roofs to keep some money coming in.
The leading anti-term limit group, Let the People Decide, has closed its Washington, D.C., offices and been reduced to a skeleton staff.