Skill, n.
Etymology: [Icel. skil a distinction, discernment; akin to skilja to separate, divide, distinguish, Sw. skilja,. skille to separate, skiel reason, right, justice, Sw. skäl reason, Lith. skelli to cleave. Cf. Shell, Shoal, a multitude.]
1. Discrimination; judgment; propriety; reason; cause. [Obs.] Shak. "As it was skill and right." Chaucer. For great skill is, he prove that he wrought. Chaucer. [For with good reason he should test what he created.]
2. Knowledge; understanding. [Obsoles.] That by his fellowship he color mightskill of any wight. Spenser. Nor want we skill or art. Milton.
3. The familiar knowledge of any art or science, united with readiness and dexterity in execution or performance, or in the application of the art or science to practical purposes; power to discern and execute; ability to perceive and perform; expertness; aptitude; as, the skill of a mathematician, physician, surgeon, mechanic, etc. Phocion, . . . by his great wisdom and skill at negotiations, diverted Alexander from the conquest of Athens. Swift. Where patience her sweet skill imparts. Keble.
4. Display of art; exercise of ability; contrivance; address. [Obs.] Richard . . . by a thousand princely skills, gathering so much corn as if he meant not to return. Fuller.
2 more senses
5. Any particular art. [Obs.] Learned in one skill, and in another kind of learning unskillful. Hooker.
Syn. -- Dexterity; adroitness; expertness; art; aptitude; ability. -- Skill, Dexterity, Adroitness. Skill is more intelligent, denoting familiar knowledge united to readiness of performance. Dexterity, when applied to the body, is more mechanical, and refers to habitual ease of execution. Adroitness involves the same image with dexterity, and differs from it as implaying a general facility of movement (especially in avoidance of danger or in escaping from a difficalty). The same distinctions apply to the figurative sense of the words. A man is skillful in any employment when he understands both its theory and its practice. He is dexterous when he maneuvers with great lightness. He is adroit in the use od quick, sudden, and well- directed movements of the body or the mind, so as to effect the object he has in view.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Skill, v. t.
To know; to understand. [Obs.] To skill the arts of expressing our mind. Barrow.
Skill, v. i.
1. To be knowing; to have understanding; to be dexterous in performance. [Obs.] I can not skill of these thy ways. Herbert.
2. To make a difference; to signify; to matter; -- used impersonally. Spenser. What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold About thy neck do drown thee Herbert. It skills not talking of it. Sir W. Scott.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for skill; he lists it under dexterity, power, wisdom.
Where he writes about it:
Skill is more exact to line, rule, and method than dexterity. — from dexterity
Dexterity can not be communicated, and, oftentimes can not even be explained by its possessor; skill to a very great extent can be imparted; "skilled workmen" in various trades are numbered by thousands. — from dexterity
Dexterity and skill are readiness and facility in action, having a special end; talent is innate, dexterity and skill are largely acquired. — from power
Our abilities include our natural capacity, faculties, and talents, with all the dexterity, skill, and readiness that can be acquired. — from power
Enlightenment, erudition, information, knowledge, learning, and skill are acquired, as by study or practise. — from wisdom
Skill is far inferior to wisdom, consisting largely in the practical application of acquired knowledge, power, and habitual processes, or in the ingenious contrivance that makes such application possible. — from wisdom
In the making of something perfectly useless there may be great skill, but no wisdom. — from wisdom