Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete Someone who can change their skin at will, especially into that of a
wolf ; awerewolf .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From turn + skin, translating Latin versipellis.
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Examples
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But the belief that men under certain conditions could also take the shape of animals is primaeval. . . .The Latins called such a man a turnskin -- versipellis, an expression which exactly agrees with the Icelandic expression for the same thing, and which is probably the true original of our turncoat.
Popular Tales from the Norse George Webbe Dasent 1856
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I felt that he was a turnskin, and I could never after taste bread with him, not if you would have killed me.
Gryll Grange Thomas Love Peacock 1825
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