skyscrapern.
/ˈskʌɪˌskreɪpə/, U.S. /ˈskaɪˌskreɪpər/ 1. Nautical. A triangular skysail (skysail n.). Now historical.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > sail > [noun] > skysail
skyscraper1791
skysail1807
skygazer1867
1791 E. P. Simcoe Diary 9 Nov. (1911) v. 51 The wind was so fair that all the sails were set, even the sky scrapers.
1797 S. James Narr. Voy. 52 Four vessels hove in sight..with..royals and skyscrapers set.
1821 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 368 One man was content with royals, as his ship had been fitted from the dock-yard—another had sky-scrapers, moon-rakers, jolly-jumpers, royal and sky-studding-sails besides.
1881 A. A. Knox New Playground x. 113 Studding-sails and sky-scrapers did not produce the smallest effect.
1926 Blue Peter Nov. 390/2 Some ships even set three-cornered sails above their royal yards, using the lead of the signal halliards through the truck for hoisting these skyscrapers.
1988 Proc. Marine Safety Council 106 Originally, a ‘skyscraper’ or ‘skyraker’ was any sail above the fore, main, or mizzen royal.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > hat > tall
high hat1584
skyscraper1800
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > woman's bonnet > types of > other
dulcimer?1767
cottage bonnet1794
cabriolet1797
skyscraper1800
kettle-holder1813
basket-bonnet1824
kiss-me-quick1845
tilt-bonnet1874
granny bonnet1879
toque1881
rain bonnet1909
1800 W. Scott Let. 5 Apr. (1937) XII. 159 The trumpets call me to swagger in a cockd skyscraper & sword.
1847 J. A. Eames Budget of Lett. 397 She gave me a black silk bonnet..which stuck right up in the air after the fashion of the old ‘sky scrapers’.
1872 Prairie Farmer 3 Aug. 244/2 The row commences with the old fashioned ‘sky-scraper’ and ends with the ‘Dolly Varden’ of the present season.
a1885 W. Baxter Diary in Cent. Mag. (1888) Apr. 930/1 Milliner's wire, such as was used to give outline to the sky-scraper bonnets of the day.
1921 Graphic 5 Feb. 174/3 A sky-scraper in gold lace and pearls and waving plumes.
3. † a. colloquial. A very tall horse. Also in ironic use. Obsolete.In quots. 1788 and 1810 with reference to the name of a horse which won the Epsom Derby in 1789.† c. A rider of a penny farthing bicycle. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > equus caballus or horse > [noun] > defined by size > tall horse
skyscraper1826
1788 Racing Cal. 269 Mr. Dutton named the D. of Bedford's c. Skyscraper, by Highflyer.
1810 T. H. Morland Geneal. Eng. Race Horse 160 [Death] Skyscraper, 1807.]
1826 W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 461 The huntsmen..were all abroad.., trotting..down the road, on great nine-hand skyscrapers, nimble daisy-cutting nags.., and ponies no bigger than the learned one at Astley's.
1827 Sporting Mag. May 48/1 I should like to see him upon one of the crack Sky-scrapers of the day.
1851 Peter Parley's Ann. 168 Broken-kneed cab-horses, bow-legged ‘phaeton shovers’, coal carters, great nine-hand sky-scrapers, blowing-tailed chargers, and rat-tailed ‘good-uns’.
b. An unusually tall or physically imposing person.
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the world > life > the body > bodily height > tallness > [noun] > person
mart1722
staup1825
corn-stalk1827
skyscraper1847
skelper1854
tiny1931
lofty1933
1847 J. M. Rymer Varney the Vampyre lxxxviii. 396/2 ‘His long legs carried him over everything...’ ‘A regular sky scraper!’
1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 19 I say, old sky-scraper, is it cold up there?
1947 Nashua (New Hampsh.) Tel. 19 Dec. 23/7 Coach Frank Powell's parochial school quintet built around a six-foot, six-inch skyscraper at center.
1976 Argus-Press (Owosso, Michigan) 14 Sept. 13/3 He's a 6-4 skyscraper who has already won All-State acclaim.
2014 J. Nelson I'll give you Sun 159 He's a skyscraper, impossibly imposing.
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society > travel > transport > cycling > [noun] > cyclist > on other specific type of bicycle
ordinaryist1889
skyscraper1892
mountain biker1984
1892 Daily News 7 Mar. 6/6 Riders of the ordinary [cycle]..are few and far between, and are often derisively styled ‘sky-scrapers.’
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the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [noun] > of an exaggerated kind
a tale (also gest, song, etc.) of Robin Hoodc1400
tale of a tub1532
Canterbury tale or story?a1550
romanza1622
romance1638
onea1642
Robin Hood tale1653
cock-and-bull story1670
stretcher1674
whid1794
fish-story1819
snake story1826
screamer1831
twister1834
ráiméis1835
Munchausen1840
skyscraper1840
Munchausenism1848
cock1851
snake yarn1891
furphy1916
fanny1930
the old ackamarackus1933
windy1933
1840 C. J. Lever Charles O'Malley xxxiii, in Dublin Univ. Mag. Sept. 358/2 My yarn won't come so well after your sky-scrapers of love.
5. Sport. A ball struck high in the air; = skyer n.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > [noun] > batting > types of hit
skyscraper1842
single1851
grass trimmer1867
safe hit1867
roller1871
sacrifice1880
triple1880
two-bagger1880
sacrifice hit1881
pop-up1882
pop fly1884
fungo1887
bunt1889
safety1895
bunting1896
drive1896
hit and run1899
pinch hit1905
Texas leaguer1905
squeeze1908
hopper1914
scratch hit1917
squib1929
line-drive1931
nubber1937
lay-in1951
squeeze bunt1952
comebacker1954
moon shot1961
gapper1970
sacrifice fly1970
sacrifice bunt1974
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > types of stroke
long ball1744
nip1752
catch1816
no-hit1827
cut1833
short hit1833
draw1836
drive1836
square hit1837
skylarker1839
skyer1840
skyscraper1842
back-cut1845
bum1845
leg sweep1846
slog1846
square cut1850
driver1851
Harrow drive1851
leg slip1852
poke1853
snick1857
snorter1859
leg stroke1860
smite1861
on-drive1862
bump ball1864
rocketer1864
pull1865
grass trimmer1867
late cut1867
off-drive1867
spoon1871
push1873
push stroke1873
smack1875
Harrow drive1877
pull-stroke1880
leg glance1883
gallery-hit1884
boundary-stroke1887
glide1888
sweep1888
boundary1896
hook1896
leg glide1896
backstroke1897
flick1897
hook stroke1897
cover-drive1898
straight drive1898
square drive1900
edger1905
pull-drive1905
slash1906
placing stroke1907
push drive1912
block shot1915
if-shot1920
placing shot1921
cow-shot1922
mow1925
Chinese cut1937
haymaker1954
hoick1954
perhapser1954
air shot1956
steepler1959
mishook1961
swish1963
chop-
1842 Bell's Life in London 12 June 4/2 W. Baldock..by his ‘sky-scrapers’ making his threes and fours until he had run up a score of 26.
1866 N.Y. Herald 27 June 5/5 Goodspeed made three handsome fly catches; Mehl, Sweet and Dupignac each paying their share of attention to the ‘skyscrapers’.
1907 St. Nicholas (N.Y.) Sept. 996 A ‘skyscraper’ throw to first.
1963 Times 28 Feb. 3/6 Alabaster's skyscraper to Titmus at midwicket demonstrated only the extraordinary sureness of Titmus in the field.
2009 D. Branon Power Up! Diamond Edition ii. 16 A fly ball was dubbed a skyscraper.
6. A very tall building of many floors or storeys.Skyscrapers are usually constructed with a steel framework and curtain walls (as opposed to load-bearing walls), and typically have a large surface area of windows. Now a feature of most major cities, the earliest skyscrapers were built in the United States (esp. in Chicago and New York) in the late 19th century following the development of the safety elevator.Compare the following early use in the sense ‘a tall structure or pinnacle on a building’:
1883 J. Moser in Amer. Architect & Building News 30 June 305 The capitol building should always have a dome. I should raise thereon a gigantic ‘sky-scraper’, contrary to all precedent in practice.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > types of building generally > [noun] > high building
towerc897
steeplec1000
Babel1554
pile1573
Babel tower1588
castle1642
minar1665
skyscraper1883
scraper1928
prang1929
slab1952
high-rise1962
multi-storey1969
1883 Chicago Tribune 25 Feb. 9 (headline) New York Gossip... Our Sky-scrapers... There are more very high buildings in New York than in all the rest of the country put together.
1888 Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 30 Dec. 10/5 The ‘sky-scrapers’ of Chicago outrival anything of their kind in the world.
1893 Daily News 15 May 5/5 It does not look like a typical skyscraper, though I suppose a thirteen-story house is one.
1903 O. Kildare My Mamie Rose xix. 288 We reach our stoop in the yawning dark cañon of the skyscrapers.
1924 Editor & Publisher 21 June 58/2 London has no skyscrapers, its buildings being rarely higher than ten floors.
1928 W. A. Starrett Skyscrapers & Men who build Them i. 1 The skyscraper is the most distinctively American thing in the world.
1976 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 28 Nov. 20/2 Babs Marchant..lives 18 storeys up in an Ibrox, Glasgow, skyscraper.
1999 P. Searle Riddle of Malaysian Capitalism i.1 The towering skyscrapers of concrete and glass that now dominate the skylines of Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
2007 National Parks Winter 45 (heading) For a city that's chock-a-block with skyscrapers, Manhattan is dotted with a surprisingly generous share of urban greenspaces.
7. Computing. A vertical banner (banner n.1 Additions) on a web page, usually appearing to one side of the page's content. Frequently (and in earliest use) attributive, as skyscraper ad, skyscraper banner, etc.In quot. 1961 showing an earlier isolated use in print journalism with reference to an advertisement laid out to resemble a skyscraper.
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1961 N.Y. Times 16 Mar. 60/3 The insertion is called a ‘skyscraper’ advertisement by the agency. Six adjacent columns are taken..—giving the profile of a skyscraper.]
2000 BtoB 23 Oct. 38/3 The lesson of the new skyscraper online ad unit is simple: ‘Size matters’... The skyscraper, sometimes called an avalanche, banner is a vertical unit that runs on the right hand side of a Web page and generates higher click-through rates than standard banners.
2001 Guardian 2 July (Media section) 51/2 Leading website owners in the US have..given skyscraper ads their vote of confidence.
2014 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 3 Sept. (Business section) 8 In the early days of the internet, advertising largely involved placing banners and skyscrapers on individual websites.
Compounds
skyscraper heel n. a very high heel on a shoe or boot; (also) a shoe or boot with such a heel.
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1898 J. R. Young et al. Memorial Hist. City Philadelphia II. iv. 72 The fashions of the period.., the plain slipper, and Roman sandals with flat English heels, and perch-sky-scraper heels.]
1913 South Bend (Indiana) News-Times 26 July 12/2 For generations men have been having harsh things to say about the sky-scraper heels on women's shoes.
1954 Life 4 Oct. 18/1 (advt.) A skyscraper heel pump featuring narrow ribbon collar and dainty vamp ornament.
2008 I. Grey Taken for Revenge, bedded for Pleasure v. 67 She was naked, apart from a pair of skyscraper heels.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1791