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Skiff vs Sleuth - What's the difference?

skiff | sleuth |

As nouns the difference between skiff and sleuth

is that skiff is a small flat-bottomed open boat with a pointed bow and square stern or skiff can be (weather|nova scotia) a deep blanket of snow covering the ground while sleuth is (obsolete) an animal’s trail or track or sleuth can be (obsolete|uncountable) slowness; laziness, sloth.

As verbs the difference between skiff and sleuth

is that skiff is to navigate in a skiff while sleuth is (transitive) to act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime.

skiff

English

(wikipedia skiff)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) esquif, from (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small flat-bottomed open boat with a pointed bow and square stern.
  • * , chapter=7
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff' s rail, close to the stern.}}
  • Any of various types of boats small enough for sailing or rowing by one person.
  • (weather) A light wind/rain/snow, etc.
  • (slang) Used when referring to anyone (typically rednecks and fishermen) who has a degree of intelligence, but believes they are more than they actually are.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to navigate in a skiff.

    • Etymology 2

    .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (weather, Nova Scotia) a deep blanket of snow covering the ground

    • sleuth

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (Norwegian slo).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An animal’s trail or track.
  • (archaic) A sleuth-hound; a bloodhound.
  • A detective.
  • * 1908 , (Frank L. Baum), Aunt Jane’s Nieces at Millville
    • Do ye want me to become a sleuth , or engage detectives to track the objects of your erroneous philanthropy?
    Synonyms
    * (detective) detective

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive) To act as a detective; to try to discover who committed a crime.
  • * 1922 , , The Secret Adversary
    • We must discover where he lives, what he does — sleuth him, in fact!
    Synonyms
    * shadow

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , corresponding to (slow) + (-th).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, uncountable) Slowness; laziness, sloth.
  • (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.
  • * 1961 , , A Passport Secretly Green , p.89
    • As quietly as if I were practicing to join a sleuth of bears , I crept out the door and went on home, eventually winding up in the garage…
  • * 1995 , , The Girl Sleuth , p.13
    • If these dainty adventurers weren’t being chased by a sleuth of bears or bogeys, they were being captured by Gypsies or thieves.
  • * 2007 , , The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie: Stories of Animals at Lighthouses , p.200
    • From the darkness came the howls of routs of wolves and bands of coyotes, the rumbling growls of a sleuth of bears or the bugles of a gang of elk.
    Synonyms
    * (sloth) idleness, inertia, laziness, lethargy, sloth, slothfulness * (collective term for a group of bears) sloth

    See also

    * sloth *

    Anagrams

    * English collective nouns