Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A beehive, especially one of straw.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A vessel of wood, wickerwork, etc., used especially as a receptacle for grain; hence, a basket, varying in size, shape, material, or use, according to locality.
  • noun The amount contained in a skep: used formerly as a specific measure of capacity.
  • noun A vehicle consisting of a large wicker basket mounted on wheels, used to convey cops, etc., about a factory.
  • noun A small wooden or metal utensil used for taking up yeast.
  • noun A beehive made of straw or wicker-work.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot. A coarse round farm basket.
  • noun Prov. Eng. & Scot. A beehive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a basket
  • noun a beehive made of straw or wicker

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a large round wicker basket (used on farms)
  • noun a domed beehive made of twisted straw

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, basket, from Old Norse skeppa, a dry measure, and from Old English sceppe (from Old Norse skeppa).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Late Old English sceppe, from Old Norse skeppa ‘basket’.

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Examples

  • Several of the men were there standing about the square iron-bound box attached by a wire rope to a wheel overhead, and known as the skep, which, with another, would be the conveyances of the ore that was to be found, from deep down in the mine to the surface, or, as the miners termed it, to grass; and until the man-engine was finished this was the ordinary way up and down.

    Sappers and Miners The Flood beneath the Sea George Manville Fenn 1870

  • As he could no longer conveniently throw the earth from the hole he took a "skep" or leaf basket, which lay handy, and, placing it beside him, put as much of the sandy soil as he could carry into it, and then lifting shot it on the edge of the pit.

    Colonel Quaritch, V.C. A Tale of Country Life Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • People, you must "skep" when it rains, as the clouds are drying up in this, our beloved country!

    IOL: News 2010

  • In the vegetable garden a traditional straw bee skep looks like it belongs.

    Suzy Bales: For A Garden's Bad Hair Days, The Art of Distraction 2009

  • I had to laugh as I read the author's rhapsody about my bee skep.

    Suzy Bales: For A Garden's Bad Hair Days, The Art of Distraction 2009

  • Die verdeeldheid van die verlede te heel en 'n samelewing gegrond op demokratiese waardes, maatskaplike geregtigheid en basiese menseregte te skep;

    Budget Speech 2008 by the Minister of Finance, Trevor A Manuel 2008

  • And his new book, "A Death in Belmont," in stores April 18, ought to make skep-tics give the guy a rethink.

    A Killer in the House 2007

  • All the backing and shifting you do does nothing but give the impression that every time the light begins to dawn—the light that you so earnestly believe you provide for so me women—you skep desperately away from it.

    “I’m glad you’ve decided not to kill it” 2005

  • Aren't they looking -- isn't GM looking at hydrogen, sort of, they're looking to skip this skep, this step, excuse me, and going on to the next one?

    CNN Transcript May 15, 2005 2005

  • Crossing the meadow, Konstantin Levin came out onto the road, and met an old man with a swollen eye, carrying a skep on his shoulder.

    Anna Karenina 2003

Comments

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  • The fungi she hunts with happy step
    But scorns the morel and the cep.
    She finds only room
    For the magical shroom
    In the dream-haunted depths of her skep.

    July 27, 2014