Meaning of the word sky - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.

In the field of astronomy, the sky is also called the celestial sphere. This is an abstract sphere, concentric to the Earth, on which the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to be drifting. The celestial sphere is conventionally divided into designated areas called constellations.

Usually, the term sky informally refers to a perspective from the Earth’s surface; however, the meaning and usage can vary. An observer on the surface of the Earth can see a small part of the sky, which resembles a dome (sometimes called the sky bowl) appearing flatter during the day than at night.^[1] In some cases, such as in discussing the weather, the sky refers to only the lower, denser layers of the atmosphere.

The daytime sky appears blue because air molecules scatter shorter wavelengths of sunlight more than longer ones (redder light).^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] The night sky appears to be a mostly dark surface or region spangled with stars. The Sun and sometimes the Moon are visible in the daytime sky unless obscured by clouds. At night, the Moon, planets, and stars are similarly visible in the sky.

Some of the natural phenomena seen in the sky are clouds, rainbows, and aurorae. Lightning and precipitation are also visible in the sky. Certain birds and insects, as well as human inventions like aircraft and kites, can fly in the sky. Due to human activities, smog during the day and light pollution during the night are often seen above large cities.

Etymology

The word sky comes from the Old Norse sky, meaning ‘cloud, abode of God’. The Norse term is also the source of the Old English scēo, which shares the same Indo-European base as the classical Latin obscūrus, meaning ‘obscure’.

In Old English, the term heaven was used to describe the observable expanse above the earth. Throughout mentions in Middle English, it was gradually restricted to its current, religious meaning.^[6]

During daytime

Except for direct sunlight, most of the light in the daytime sky is caused by scattering, which is dominated by a small-particle limit called Rayleigh scattering. The scattering due to molecule-sized particles (as in air) is greater in the directions both toward and away from the source of light than it is in directions perpendicular to the incident path.^[7] Scattering is significant for light at all visible wavelengths, but is stronger at the shorter (bluer) end of the visible spectrum, meaning that the scattered light is bluer than its source: the Sun. The remaining direct sunlight, having lost some of its shorter-wavelength components, appears slightly less blue.^[5]

Scattering also occurs even more strongly in clouds. Individual water droplets refract white light into a set of colored rings. If a cloud is thick enough, scattering from multiple water droplets will wash out the set of colored rings and create a washed-out white color.^{[clarification needed]}^[8]

The sky can turn a multitude of colors such as red, orange, purple, and yellow (especially near sunset or sunrise) when the light must travel a much longer path (or optical depth) through the atmosphere. Scattering effects also partially polarize light from the sky and are most pronounced at an angle 90° from the Sun. Scattered light from the horizon travels through as much as 38 times the air mass as does light from the zenith, causing a blue gradient looking vivid at the zenith and pale near the horizon.^[9] Red light is also scattered if there is enough air between the source and the observer, causing parts of the sky to change color as the Sun rises or sets. As the air mass nears infinity, scattered daylight appears whiter and whiter.^[10]

Apart from the Sun, distant clouds or snowy mountaintops may appear yellow. The effect is not very obvious on clear days, but is very pronounced when clouds cover the line of sight, reducing the blue hue from scattered sunlight.^[10] At higher altitudes, the sky tends toward darker colors since scattering is reduced due to lower air density. An extreme example is the Moon, where no atmospheric scattering occurs, making the lunar sky black even when the Sun is visible.^[11]

Sky luminance distribution models have been recommended by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) for the design of daylighting schemes. Recent developments relate to «all sky models» for modelling sky luminance under weather conditions ranging from clear to overcast.^[12]

During twilight

The crescent Moon remains visible just moments before sunrise.

Civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight. Dusk is the end of evening twilight.^[13]

Dawn is the beginning of morning twilight.

The brightness and color of the sky vary greatly over the course of a day, and the primary cause of these properties differs as well. When the Sun is well above the horizon, direct scattering of sunlight (Rayleigh scattering) is the overwhelmingly dominant source of light. However, during twilight, the period between sunset and night or between night and sunrise, the situation is more complex.

Green flashes and green rays are optical phenomena that occur shortly after sunset or before sunrise, when a green spot is visible above the Sun, usually for no more than a second or two, or it may resemble a green ray shooting up from the sunset point. Green flashes are a group of phenomena that stem from different causes,^[14] most of which occur when there is a temperature inversion (when the temperature increases with altitude rather than the normal decrease in temperature with altitude). Green flashes may be observed from any altitude (even from an aircraft). They are usually seen above an unobstructed horizon, such as over the ocean, but are also seen above clouds and mountains. Green flashes may also be observed at the horizon in association with the Moon and bright planets, including Venus and Jupiter.^[15]^[16]

Earth’s shadow is the shadow that the planet casts through its atmosphere and into outer space. This atmospheric phenomenon is visible during civil twilight (after sunset and before sunrise). When the weather conditions and the observing site permit a clear view of the horizon, the shadow’s fringe appears as a dark or dull bluish band just above the horizon, in the low part of the sky opposite of the (setting or rising) Sun’s direction. A related phenomenon is the Belt of Venus (or antitwilight arch), a pinkish band that is visible above the bluish band of Earth’s shadow in the same part of the sky. No defined line divides Earth’s shadow and the Belt of Venus; one colored band fades into the other in the sky.^[17]^[18]

Twilight is divided into three stages according to the Sun’s depth below the horizon, measured in segments of 6°. After sunset, the civil twilight sets in; it ends when the Sun drops more than 6° below the horizon. This is followed by the nautical twilight, when the Sun is between 6° and 12° below the horizon (depth between −6° and −12°), after which comes the astronomical twilight, defined as the period between −12° and −18°. When the Sun drops more than 18° below the horizon, the sky generally attains its minimum brightness.^[19]

Several sources can be identified as the source of the intrinsic brightness of the sky, namely airglow, indirect scattering of sunlight, scattering of starlight, and artificial light pollution.

During the night

The Milky Way can be seen as a large band across the night sky, and is distorted into an arch in this 360° panorama.

The term night sky refers to the sky as seen at night. The term is usually associated with skygazing and astronomy, with reference to views of celestial bodies such as stars, the Moon, and planets that become visible on a clear night after the Sun has set. Natural light sources in a night sky include moonlight, starlight, and airglow, depending on location and timing. The fact that the sky is not completely dark at night can be easily observed. Were the sky (in the absence of moon and city lights) absolutely dark, one would not be able to see the silhouette of an object against the sky.

The night sky and studies of it have a historical place in both ancient and modern cultures. In the past, for instance, farmers have used the state of the night sky as a calendar to determine when to plant crops. The ancient belief in astrology is generally based on the belief that relationships between heavenly bodies influence or convey information about events on Earth. The scientific study of the night sky and bodies observed within it, meanwhile, takes place in the science of astronomy.

Within visible-light astronomy, the visibility of celestial objects in the night sky is affected by light pollution. The presence of the Moon in the night sky has historically hindered astronomical observation by increasing the amount of ambient lighting. With the advent of artificial light sources, however, light pollution has been a growing problem for viewing the night sky. Special filters and modifications to light fixtures can help to alleviate this problem, but for the best views, both professional and amateur optical astronomers seek viewing sites located far from major urban areas.

Use in weather forecasting

White cumulus clouds appeared over Dhaka, Bangladesh, when significant flooding was underway in many parts of the country.

Along with pressure tendency, the condition of the sky is one of the more important parameters used to forecast weather in mountainous areas. Thickening of cloud cover or the invasion of a higher cloud deck is indicative of rain in the near future. At night, high thin cirrostratus clouds can lead to halos around the Moon, which indicate the approach of a warm front and its associated rain.^[20] Morning fog portends fair conditions and can be associated with a marine layer, an indication of a stable atmosphere.^[21] Rainy conditions are preceded by wind or clouds which prevent fog formation. The approach of a line of thunderstorms could indicate the approach of a cold front. Cloud-free skies are indicative of fair weather for the near future.^[22] The use of sky cover in weather prediction has led to various weather lore over the centuries.^[23]

Tropical cyclones

Picture of the sky in the eye of a tropical cyclone

Within 36 hours of the passage of a tropical cyclone’s center, the pressure begins to fall and a veil of white cirrus clouds approaches from the cyclone’s direction. Within 24 hours of the closest approach to the center, low clouds begin to move in, also known as the bar of a tropical cyclone, as the barometric pressure begins to fall more rapidly and the winds begin to increase. Within 18 hours of the center’s approach, squally weather is common, with sudden increases in wind accompanied by rain showers or thunderstorms. Within six hours of the center’s arrival, rain becomes continuous. Within an hour of the center, the rain becomes very heavy and the highest winds within the tropical cyclone are experienced. When the center arrives with a strong tropical cyclone, weather conditions improve and the sun becomes visible as the eye moves overhead. Once the system departs, winds reverse and, along with the rain, suddenly increase. One day after the center’s passage, the low overcast is replaced with a higher overcast, and the rain becomes intermittent. By 36 hours after the center’s passage, the high overcast breaks and the pressure begins to level off.^[24]

Use in transportation

Flight is the process by which an object moves through or beyond the sky (as in the case of spaceflight), whether by generating aerodynamic lift, propulsive thrust, aerostatically using buoyancy, or by ballistic movement, without any direct mechanical support from the ground. The engineering aspects of flight are studied in aerospace engineering which is subdivided into aeronautics, which is the study of vehicles that travel through the air, and astronautics, the study of vehicles that travel through space, and in ballistics, the study of the flight of projectiles. While human beings have been capable of flight via hot air balloons since 1783,^[25] other species have used flight for significantly longer. Animals, such as birds, bats, and insects are capable of flight. Spores and seeds from plants use flight, via use of the wind, as a method of propagating their species.^[26]

Significance in mythology

Many mythologies have deities especially associated with the sky. In Egyptian religion, the sky was deified as the goddess Nut and as the god Horus. Dyeus is reconstructed as the god of the sky, or the sky personified, in Proto-Indo-European religion, whence Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder in Greek mythology and the Roman god of sky and thunder Jupiter.

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Altjira (or Arrernte) is the main sky god and also the creator god. In Iroquois mythology, Atahensic was a sky goddess who fell down to the ground during the creation of the Earth. Many cultures have drawn constellations between stars in the sky, using them in association with legends and mythology about their deities.

Image gallery

Split sky just after sunset, High Desert, California
The clouds reflect shadows at sunset, and fan them throughout the sky.
Night sky with many stars
Pink Sky
Aurora borealis over Bear Lake, Alaska

References

^ Baird, J. C.; Wagner, M. (1982). «The moon illusion: I. How high is the sky?». Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 111 (3): 296–303. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.111.3.296. PMID 6215460.
^ Tyndall, John (December 1868). «On the Blue Colour of the Sky, the Polarization of Skylight, and on the Polarization of Light by Cloudy Matter Generally». Proceedings of the Royal Society. 17: 223–33. Bibcode:1868RSPS…17..223T. doi:10.1098/rspl.1868.0033. JSTOR 112380.
^ Lord Rayleigh (June 1871). «On the scattering of light by small particles». Philosophical Magazine. 41 (275): 447–51.
^ Watson, J. G. (June 2002). «Visibility: Science and Regulation». J. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc. 52 (6): 628–713. doi:10.1080/10473289.2002.10470813. PMID 12074426.
^ ^a ^b Gibbs, Philip (May 1997). «Why is the sky Blue?». Usenet Physics FAQ. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
^ «sky, n.1». Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Yu Timofeev & A. V. Vasilʹev (1 May 2008). Theoretical Fundamentals of Atmospheric Optics. Cambridge International Science Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-904602-25-5.
^ Craig F. Bohren & Eugene Edmund Clothiaux (2006). Fundamentals of Atmospheric Radiation: An Introduction with 400 Problems. Wiley-VCH. p. 427. Bibcode:2006fari.book…..B. ISBN 978-3-527-40503-9.
^ «Bluer on top». USA Today. 11 April 2001. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
^ ^a ^b David K. Lynch; William Charles Livingston (2001). Color and Light in Nature. Cambridge University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-521-77504-5.
^ National Weather Service (15 July 2005). «Chapter 3: Radiation and Temperature» (PDF). Anchorage, Alaska: NOAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ Darula, S.; Kittler, R. (September 2002). «General Sky Standard Defining Luminance Distributions» (PDF). Proc. Conf. eSim 2002. Montreal. pp. 11–13. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
^ Van Flandern, T.; K. Pulkkinen (1980). «Low precision formulae for planetary positions». Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 31 (3): 391. Bibcode:1979ApJS…41..391V. doi:10.1086/190623.
^ Young, A. (2006). «Green flashes at a glance». San Diego State University. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
^ Nave, C. R. «Red Sunset, Green Flash». Georgia State University. HyperPhysics. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
^ O’Connell, D. J. K. (1958). «The Green Flash and Other Low-Sun Phenomena». Castel Gandolfo: Vatican Observatory, Ricerche Astronomiche. 4: 7. Bibcode:1958RA……4…..O.
^ Cowley, Les (2 August 2009). «Earth’s shadow». Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ Lynch, David K.; Livingston, William Charles (July 2001). Color and light in nature (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 38, 39. ISBN 978-0-521-77504-5.
^ Bromberg, Irv (4 April 2011). «The Duration of Twilight». University of Toronto. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ Dennis Eskow (March 1983). «Make Your Own Weather Forecasts». Popular Mechanics. 159 (3): 148.
^ National Weather Service Office, Oxnard, California (2012). «Climate of Los Angeles». National Weather Service Western Region Headquarters. Retrieved 16 February 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Moore, Mark. «Field Forecasting – A Short Summary» (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
^ Wilson, Jerry (2012). «Skywatch: Signs of the Weather». Archived from the original on 7 April 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2008.
^ Central Pacific Hurricane Center (23 July 2006). Tropical Cyclone Observations. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved on 5 May 2008.
^ «U.S. Centennial of Flight Commisstion: Early Balloon Flight in Europe». Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
^ J. Gurevitch; S. M. Scheiner & G. A. Fox (2006). Plant Ecology (2nd ed.). Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sky.

Media related to Sky at Wikimedia Commons

Источник

Recent Examples on the Web

This is one of the brightest stars in the sky and is composed of at least four individual stars, one of which is a Wolf-Rayet star in a binary system with a blue supergiant star.

—Robert Lea, Popular Mechanics, 13 Apr. 2023

Where in the night sky is the Lyrid meteor shower?

—Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 12 Apr. 2023

But the most dangerous type is clear-air turbulence, which can be hard to predict and often gives no visible warning in the sky ahead.

—Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2023

Above, at least a dozen helicopters made circles in the sky.

—Jenna Reyes, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Apr. 2023

Someone’s secrets written in the sky for all to behold.

—Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 11 Apr. 2023

On April 5, the start of the night of the full moon, three of the five visible planets will be in the sky, including Venus, Mercury and Mars.

—Julia Musto, Fox News, 7 Apr. 2023

There will be an annular eclipse — when the sun isn’t completely covered, but appears like a ring of fire in the sky — later this year, on Oct. 14.

—Maddie Burakoff, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2023

Here are some trends to bet players to make the cut and to win: The old guy who pushes the sun back up in the sky Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh and the list goes on.

—Jason Hoffman, The Enquirer, 5 Apr. 2023

With a grade-point average above 4.0, and the size and leaping ability to sky high above any net, Kelly is set to be a player to watch in his junior season for the Cubs.

—Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb. 2023

The background sky around the Pillars, which also sports copious dust (albeit less of it), takes on a particularly clear and crisp look in the James Webb shot.

—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 20 Oct. 2022

And France, which had gone ahead of England in the 78th minute, needed the unmissable Harry Kane to sky his second penalty to avoid extra time.

—John Powers, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Dec. 2022

Pity, then, about the dalliance with a high frame rate, which gives too much of the action of land and sky a distractingly synthetic fluidity, a look reminiscent of video game cutscenes.

—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 13 Dec. 2022

From corralling fish with plumes of mud to tenderizing tough prey by tossing it sky high, dolphins are known for a wide variety of intelligent feeding strategies.

—Sarah Keartes, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Nov. 2022

Record temperatures in Europe this summer have taken a toll on truffle stocks, pushing prices for some varieties sky high, to €1,000 (around $1,012) per kilogram or beyond.

—WIRED, 11 Nov. 2022

McCarthy didn’t allow a goal on the Union’s three attempts, watching Gazdag slip and sky Philadelphia’s first attempt over the crossbar, then diving to make saves on José Martínez and Kai Wagner.

—Greg Beacham, ajc, 6 Nov. 2022

McCarthy didn’t allow a goal on the Union’s three attempts, watching Philadelphia top scorer Daniel Gazdag slip and sky the first attempt over the crossbar, then diving to make saves on José Martínez and Kai Wagner.

—Greg Beacham, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Nov. 2022

See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘sky.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Источник

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

A blue sky (sense 1).

The noun is derived from Middle English ski, skie, sky (“firmament, heavens, sky; cloud; cloud of mist or vapour; fog, mist; (astrology) certain configuration of the heavens; (astronomy) sphere of the celestial realm; (physiology) cloudiness, smoky residue (for example, in urine)”) [and other forms],^[1] from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”).^[2]

The verb is derived from the noun.^[3]

cognates

The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

Pronunciation[edit]

(Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: skī, IPA^(key): /skaɪ/
Homophones: Sky, Skye
Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun[edit]

sky (plural skies)

The atmosphere above a given point, especially as visible from the surface of the Earth as the place where the sun, moon, stars, and clouds are seen.

Synonyms: blue, firmament, heaven, (chiefly Scotland) lift, (literary or poetic, archaic) welkin

That year, a meteor fell from the sky.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
  
  For beſides the groues, / The skyes, the fountaines, euery region neare / Seeme all one mutuall cry. I neuer heard / So muſicall a diſcord, ſuch ſweete thunder.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 40:
  
  His wearie ghoſt aſſoyld from fleſhly band, / Did not as others wont, directly fly / Vnto her reſt in Plutoes grieſly land, / Ne into ayre did vaniſh preſently, / Ne chaunged was into a ſtarre in sky: […]
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
  
  [I]f you doe not all ſhew like guilt twoo pences to mee, and I in the cleere skie of Fame, ore-ſhine you as much as the full moone doth the cindars of the element, (which ſhew like pinnes heads to her) beleeue not the worde of the noble: […]
  
  [I]f you do not all appear like gilt twopences [i.e., counterfeit coins] next to me, and I, in the clear sky of fame, outshine you as much as the full moon outshines the cinders of the element [i.e., the stars] (which look like pinheads next to the moon), then don’t believe me: […]
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 396, column 1:
  
  [A] Nobler Sir, ne’re liu’d / ‘Twixt sky and ground.
- 1660 November 11 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 1 November 1660]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 327:
  
  I went with some of my relations to Court, to shew them his Ma^ties cabinet and closset of rarities; […] Here I saw […] amongst the clocks, one that shew’d the rising and setting of the Sun in y^e Zodiaq, the Sunn represented by a face and raies of gold, upon an azure skie, observing y^e diurnal and annual motion, rising and setting behind a landscape of hills, the work of our famous Fromantel; and severall other rarities.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 245–248, page 103:
  
  [T]he cunning Leach ordains / In Summer’s Sultry Heats (for then it reigns) / To feed the Females, e’re the Sun ariſe, / Or late at Night, when Stars adorn the Skies.
- 1700, Mat[thew] Prior, “Carmen Seculare, for the Year 1700. To the King.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, page 164:
  
  Through the large Convex of the Azure Sky, / (For thither Nature caſts our common Eye) / Fierce Meteors ſhoot their arbitrary Light, / And Comets march with lawleſs Horror bright; […]
- 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, lines 411–412, page 120:
  
  A length of Ocean and unbounded sky, / Which ſcarce the Sea-fowl in a year o’erfly […]
- 1807, William Wordsworth, “To a Sky-lark”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, page 81:
  
  There is madness about thee, and joy divine / In that song of thine; / Up with me, up with me, high and high, / To thy banqueting-place in the sky!
- 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 154–155:
  
  Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 40:
  
  So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one’s dreams.
- 1926, Irving Berlin (lyrics and music), “Blue Skies”:
  
  Blue skies / Smiling at me / Nothing but blue skies / Do I see
With a descriptive word: the part of the sky which can be seen from a specific place or at a specific time; its climate, condition, etc.

I lay back under a warm Texas sky.

We’re not sure how long the cloudy skies will last.
- 1782, William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 80:
  
  Yon ancient prude, whoſe wither’d features ſhow / She might be young ſome forty years ago, / […] / With boney and unkerchief’d neck defies / The rude inclemency of wintry ſkies, / And ſails with lappet-head and mincing airs / Duely at clink of bell, to morning pray’rs.
- 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC, part II, stanza 7, page 13:
  
  All in a hot and copper sky / The bloody sun at noon, / Right up above the mast did stand, / No bigger than the moon.
- 1799–1805 (dates written), William Wordsworth, “Book I. Introduction.—Childhood and School-time.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 21:
  
  [T]he stars / Eastward were sparkling clear, and in the west / The orange sky of evening died away.
- 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza LXVII, page 201:
  
  With that sharp sound the white dawn’s creeping beams, / Stol’n to my brain, dissolved the mystery / Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams / Ruled in the eastern sky.
- 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, pages 58–59:
  
  But now shine on, and what care I, / Who in this stormy gulf have found a pearl / The counterclaim of space and hollow sky, […]
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, “Burglary”, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC, page 35:
  
  She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.
(chiefly literary and poetic, archaic) Usually preceded by the: the abode of God or the gods, angels, the souls of deceased people, etc.; heaven; also, powers emanating from heaven.

This mortal has incurred the wrath of the skies.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
  
  Now am I dead, now am I fled, my ſoule is in the sky.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 9:
  
  Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphære, / So maist thou be tranſlated to the skies, / And give reſounding grace to all Heav’ns Harmonies.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 44-49:
  
  Him the Almighty Power / Hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combuſtion down / To bottomleſs perdition, there to dwell / In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, / Who durſt defie th’ Omnipotent to Arms.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Second Pastoral. Or, Alexis.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, line 86, page 8:
  
  The Gods to live in Woods have left the Skies.
- 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Henry and Emma, […]”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 271:
  
  Mars ſmil’d and bow’d, the Cyprian Deity / Turn’d to the glorious Ruler of the Sky: / And Thou, She ſmiling ſaid, Great God of Days / And Verſe; behond my Deed; and ſing my Praiſe.
- 1720, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book XXII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, lines 218–220, page 13:
  
  The gazing Gods lean forward from the Sky: / To whom, while eager on the Chace they look, / The Sire of Mortals and Immortals ſpoke.
- 1731, Jonathan Swift, “Judas”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], volume VIII, new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 113:
  
  By the just vengeance of incensed skies, / Poor bishop Judas late repenting dies.
Ellipsis of sky blue.
- 1667 March 12 (first performance), John Dryden, Secret-Love, or The Maiden-Queen: […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 26:
  
  But yet methinks, thoſe knots of Sky, do not / So well with the dead colour of her Face.
- 1668, George Etherege, She Wou’d if She Cou’d, a Comedy. […], London: […] [John Macocke] for H[enry] Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 39:
  
  [W]hy, / Brother, I have beſpoke Dinner, and engag’d / Mr. Rake-hell, the little ſmart Gentleman I have / Often promis’d thee to make thee acquainted / Withal, to bring a whole Bevy of Damſels / In Sky, and Pink, and Flame-colour’d Taffeta’s.
(mathematics, theoretical physics) The set of all lightlike lines (or directions) passing through a given point in space-time.

Synonym: celestial sphere
(obsolete, informal, rare) In an art gallery: the upper rows of pictures that cannot easily be seen; also, the place where such pictures are hung.
(obsolete) A cloud. [13th–16th c.]

Usage notes[edit]

The word can be used correctly in either the singular or plural form, but the plural is now mainly literary.

Alternative forms[edit]

skie (obsolete)

Derived terms[edit]

blue sky
blue-sky
mackerel sky
night sky
pie in the sky
reach for the sky
sky blue
Sky Blue
sky-blue
sky-high
skyclad
skylark
skylight
skyline
skyrocket
skyscraper
skysill
skyward
skywards
the sky’s the limit

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

sky (third-person singular simple present skies, present participle skying, simple past and past participle skied or skyed)

(transitive)
1. (informal) To drink (a beverage) from a container without one’s lips touching the container.
2. (informal, dated) To hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; (by extension) to put (something) in an undesirable place.
  
  Antonym: floor
  - 1883 December, M[ariana] G[riswold] Van Rensselaer, “George Fuller”, in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume V (New Series; volume XXVII overall), number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.; London: F[rederick] Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 227, column 1:
    
    The artists—I mean the younger brood, and not the Brother Academicians who «skied» his pictures—were the first and the most enthusiastic in his [George Fuller’s] praise.
3. (slang, dated) To toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin).
  - 1894, C[ornelis] Stoffel, “Preface”, in Studies in English, Written and Spoken: For the Use of Continental Students (First Series), Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands: W. J. Thieme & Co.; London: Luzac & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page IX:
    
    In ‘skying’ a coin for the purpose of deciding a point at issue between two parties, two methods are in vogue: there is either the ‘slow torture’ of spinning the coin thrice, the decision to go against the tosser-up, if the other party, twice out of the three times, guesses right on which side the coin shall fall; or, the ‘sudden death’ method in which one toss is decisive; […]
4. (sports)
  1. To clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin.
  2. (ball games) To hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high.
    - 2009 September 8, Geoff Baker, “Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels: 09/08 game thread”, in The Seattle Times‎^[1], Seattle, Wash.: The Seattle Times Company, published 29 November 2012, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2021:
      
      Hernandez [i.e., Félix Hernández] walked the bases loaded, then fell behind 3–1 in the count to Bobby Abreu, who then skied the next pitch to left for a sacrifice fly.
5. (obsolete) To raise (the price of an item on auction, or the level of the bids generally) by bidding high.
  - 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson; Lloyd Osbourne, “The Wreck of the ‘Flying Scud’”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 146:
    
    All of a sudden he appeared as a third competitor, skied the Flying Scud with four fat bids of a thousand dollars each, and then as suddenly fled the field, remaining thenceforth (as before) a silent, interested spectator.
(intransitive)
1. To move quickly, as if by flying; to fly; also, to escape, to flee (especially by airplane).
2. (sports)
  1. (ball games) To hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high.
  2. (rowing) To raise an oar too high above the water.

Derived terms[edit]

sky the towel, sky the wipe (chiefly Australia)

Translations[edit]

to drink (a beverage) from a container without one’s lips touching the container

to hang (a picture on exhibition) near the top of a wall, where it cannot easily be seen; to put (something) in an undesirable place

to toss (something) upwards; specifically, to flip (a coin)

to clear (a high jump bar, hurdle, etc.) by a large margin

to hit, kick, or throw (a ball) extremely high

to move quickly, as if by flying — see fly

to hit, kick, or throw a ball extremely high

to raise an oar too high above the water

References[edit]

^ “skī(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ Compare “sky, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “sky, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
^ “sky, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “sky, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams[edit]

KYS, YKS, YSK, Yks., kys

Danish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA^(key): [ˈskyˀ]

Etymology 1[edit]

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwe, schū, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh. Compare English shy and German scheu.

Adjective[edit]

sky (neuter sky, plural and definite singular attributive sky)

Synonyms[edit]

bly
genert

References[edit]

“sky,4” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Danish sky, from Old Norse ský, from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud, cloud cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”).

Noun[edit]

sky c (singular definite skyen, plural indefinite skyer)

cloud

Inflection[edit]

References[edit]

“sky,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 3[edit]

From French jus, from Latin iūs (“gravy, broth, sauce”). The Danish word was probably borrowed via German Jus or Schü, pronounced [ˈʃyː], with a regular substitution of German /ʃ/ with Danish /sk/.

Noun[edit]

sky c (singular definite skyen, not used in plural form)

gravy, stock (a kind of soup)
jelly (made of gravy)
(cooking) aspic

References[edit]

“sky,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 4[edit]

Possibly from Middle Low German schūwen, derived from the adjective.

Verb[edit]

sky (imperative sky, present skyr or skyer, past skyede, past participle skyet)

To shun.

References[edit]

“sky,3” in Den Danske Ordbog

Middle English[edit]