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skillygalee. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
skillygalee, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
skillygalee in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unknown and much-speculated (compare lobscouse and other fancifully-named hardy foods), but possibly Irish in root.
Noun
skillygalee (uncountable)
- (obsolete, nautical) A type of gruel made from oatmeal, oft-served historically in poorhouses, sailors' ships, etc.
2005, Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Steve Noon, Nelson's Sailors, Osprey Publishing, page 24:Breakfast was served at 8am and sometimes consisted of skillygalee, a sort of oatmeal gruel prepared in fatty water and which by the time of Trafalgar included butter and sugar.
- (obsolete) A thin broth generally prepared by soaking hardtack in water, and frying with pork fat/lard.
2004, Brian Leehan, Pale Horse at Plum Run: The First Minnesota at Gettysburg, Minnesota Historical Society Press, page 200:Skillygalee was born of left-over pork grease and crackers too tough to bite and chew.