skinful

English

Etymology

From skin +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɪnfəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: skin‧ful

Noun

skinful (plural skinfuls or skinsful)

1. Enough to fill a skin.

   a skinful of wine

2. (colloquial) Enough alcoholic drink to cause inebriation.

   I wasn't thinking straight – I'd had a skinful that night.

   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer:

     When methodist preachers come down,
     A-preaching that drinking is sinful,
     I'll wager the rascals a crown,
     They always preach best with a skinful.

   • 2024 August 7, Paul Clifton, “You absolute moron!”, in RAIL, number 1015, page 54:

     "People who've had a skinful," Robey explains. "They lose their inhibitions and forget the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.

3. (slang) Plenty; a large amount.
   • 1959, Frank Clune, Murders on Maunga-tapu, page 10:

     To steal a housewife's purse might mean that her children would have to go hungry; but what of that, if the flash young “dip” could gain admiration from his mates by boasting that he had “frisked a judy's cly and lifted a skinful of bunce”?

   • 2011, Anne Emery, Death at Christy Burke's, page 102:

     “Now there's a skinful of abuse!” the curly top exclaimed. “Sounds as if she crossed the ocean just to denounce you in a public place.”

Anagrams

• Lufkins, sinkful