SKIMMINGTON

Definition: SKIMMINGTON

SKIMMINGTON

Noun

1. A word employed in the phrase, To ride Skimmington; that is to ride on a horse with a woman, but behind her, facing backward, carrying a distaff, and accompanied by a procession of jeering neighbors making mock music; a cavalcade in ridicule of a henpecked man. The custom was in vogue in parts of England.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Date "SKIMMINGTON" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1886. (references)

Note: Skimmington \Skim"ming*ton\, noun. [Etymology uncertain. Perhaps the name of some notorius scold.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definitions: SKIMMINGTON

Domain	Definitions
Literature	Skimmington To ride the skimmington, or Riding the stang. To be hen-pecked. Grose tells us that the man rode behind the woman, with his face to the horse's tail. The man held a distaff, and the woman beat him about the jowls with a ladle. As the procession passed a house where the woman was paramount, each gave the threshold a sweep. The "stang" was a pole supported by two stout lads, across which the rider was made to stride. Mr. Douce derives "skimmington" from the skimming -ladle with which the rider was buffeted. The custom was not peculiar to Scotland and England; it prevailed in Scandinavia; and Hoefnagel, in his Views in Seville (1591), shows that it existed in Spain also. The procession is described at length in Hudibras, pt. ii. ch. ii. " `Hark ye, Dame Ursley Suddlechop,' said Jenkin, starting up, his eyes flashing with anger: `remember, I am none of your husband, and if I were you would do well not to forget whose threshold was swept when they last rode the skimmington upon such another scolding jade at yourself.' "- Scott: Fortunes of Nigel. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Usage Frequency: SKIMMINGTON

"SKIMMINGTON" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "SKIMMINGTON" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Rhyming with "SKIMMINGTON"

Words rhyming with "SKIMMINGTON" (pronounced 'Skim"ming*ton'): Acton, Aketon, Astrophyton, Asyndeton, automaton, Badminton, Barbiton, Barton, Baston, Batton, B'eton, Boston, Burton, Carton, Caxton, Chiton, Cornet-a-piston, Croton, Crouton, Feuilleton, Fronton, guncotton, Homoioptoton, hyperbaton, krypton, Megaphyton, Melton, Mirliton, Monton, Moton, Mutton, Neuroskeleton, Panton, Phaeton, Phlogiston, Phyton, Piston, Plankton, Pneumoskeleton, Polyptoton, Polysyndeton, Ponton, Poupeton, Protiston, Sabbaton, Santon, Scleroskeleton, Seton, Sexton, Shecklaton. (additional references)

Anagrams: SKIMMINGTON

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "g-i-i-k-m-m-n-n-o-s-t"
	-3 letters: skimming, stinking.
	-4 letters: gnomist, mignons, minings, minions, minting, misting, nimming, noising, oinking, sinking, skiting, smiting, smoking, stoking, stoning, timings, tomming.
	-5 letters: ingots, inions, inking, inmost, kinins, kiting, mignon, miking, miming, minims, mining, minion, mongst, monism, monist, nitons, nomism, nosing, noting, siting, skiing, stingo, stinko, tigons, timing, tining, toking, toning, tsking.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.