skeleton

I. noun Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, neuter of skeletos dried up; akin to Greek skellein to dry up, sklēros hard and perhaps to Old English sceald shallow Date: 1578 1. a usually rigid supportive or protective structure or framework of an organism; especially the bony or more or less cartilaginous framework supporting the soft tissues and protecting the internal organs of a vertebrate 2. something reduced to its minimum form or essential parts 3. an emaciated person or animal 4. a. something forming a structural framework b. the straight or branched chain or ring of atoms that forms the basic structure of an organic molecule 5. something shameful and kept secret (as in a family) — often used in the phrase skeleton in the closet • skeletonic adjective II. adjective Date: 1778 of, consisting of, or resembling a skeleton