skeleton crew

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English

WOTD – 1 May 2025

Etymology

From skeleton (“(military) small number of soldiers in a regiment far short of its full strength; (especially attributive) bare essentials, minimum”) +‎ crew, metaphorically referring to a crew being bare bones rather than adequately fleshed out.

Pronunciation

Noun

skeleton crew (plural skeleton crews)

  1. (idiomatic, originally military, nautical) A crew consisting of the minimum number of personnel needed to maintain and operate the basic functions of something, such as a business, a factory, or a ship.
    Coordinate term: skeleton staff
    • 1834 March 4, Duke of Buckingham , “Impressment of Seamen”, in Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates: Third Series;  (House of Commons), volume XXI, London: T C Hansard, , for Baldwin and Cradock;  , →OCLC, column 1073:
      he ships of the English navy were left with skeleton crews of the most wretched kind and description.
    • 1838, Chamier, chapter XIV, in Jack Adams, the Mutineer. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 270:
      But when night came on, the wind died away, and the skeleton crew, revived by hope, actually took to the oars, and used them to some effect.
    • 1895 March 2, “Naval Appropriation Bill”, in Congressional Record:  (United States Senate, 53rd Congress, 3rd session), volume XXVII, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1895, →OCLC, page 3120:
      Mr. Tracy, the former Secretary , in a conversation with the present Secretary, stated that his policy with the battle ships, had he continued in office, would have been to lay them up the greater part of the year with merely skeleton crews on board, and keep them in good and efficient trim for an emergency when necessary.
    • 1945 August 4, Franklin D’Olier, chairman, “Appendix IV: Air Raid Reports (Translations)”, in , transl., Ludwigshafen-Oppau Works of IG Farbenindustrie AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany (United States Strategic Bombing Survey; 117), 2nd edition, : Oil Division, , published January 1947, →OCLC, page 99:
      In Building Op 750, 2 phosphorus incendiaries penetrated the roof without damage. Eighteen phosphorus incendiaries fell on Op 450 and penetrated the roof, but were extinguished by the skeleton crew without damage.
    • 2022 November 4, Kate Conger, Ryan Mac, Mike Isaac, “Confusion and frustration reign as Elon Musk cuts half of Twitter's staff”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2025-03-13:
      The internet technology team—which is partly responsible for keeping the site functioning—became "a skeleton crew," two people said.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “skeleton, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2025.

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