Wiktionary
a. 1 (context chiefly British Columbia Yukon Northwest US English) excellent, impressive. 2 (context chiefly British Columbia Yukon Northwest US English) big, strong, durable, reliable, trustworthy, doughty n. 1 (context chiefly among Northwest Coast Aboriginal people English) An evil spirit or woodland monster/giant 2 a type of doll based on the mythical woodland monster
Wikipedia
Skookum is a Chinook Jargon word that has historical use in the Pacific Northwest. It has a range of meanings, commonly associated with an English translation of "strong" or "monstrous." The word can mean "strong," "greatest," "powerful," "ultimate," or 'brave." Something can be skookum, meaning "strong" or "monstrously significant." When used in reference to another person, e.g. "he's skookum," it conveys connotations of reliability or a monstrous nature, as well as strength, size or hard-working.
Skookum house means jail or prison, cf. the English euphemism "the big house," but here meaning "strong house." Skookum tumtum, lit. "strong heart," is generally translated as "brave" or possibly "good-hearted." In the Chinook language, skookum is a verb auxiliary, used similar to "can" or "to be able." Another compound, though fallen out of use in modern British Columbia English, is skookum lacasset or strongbox.
A related word skookumchuck means turbulent water or rapids in a stream or river, i.e. "strong water" ("chuck" is Chinook Jargon for "water" or "stream" or "lake"). There are three place names in British Columbia, one in Washington, and one in Idaho using this word. Of the British Columbia skookumchucks, one is a famous saltwater tidal flow narrows at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet, the others at rapids on the Lillooet and Columbia Rivers, and also Skookumchuck Rapids Provincial Park on the Shuswap River, just downstream from Mabel Lake in the Monashees region. The Skookumchuck River in Washington is a robust tributary of the Chehalis River. Idaho's Skookumchuck Creek meets the Salmon River south of Whitebird, Idaho just after being crossed by U.S. Highway 95. While the tidal flow rapids at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet is the Skookumchuck on the British Columbia coast, the term is used in a general sense for other patches of rough water, typically tidal-exchange rapids at the mouths of other inlets or bays, which are a regular feature of the Inside Passage.
Skookum is a word derived from the Chinook Jargon common in regional English in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It may also refer to a mythical monster or a doll (as discussed in main article).
Skookum may also refer to:
- Skookum (cat), a breed of cat
- Skookum WCT Cash Spiel, a curling tournament from 2006 to 2010
-
, a Canadian ferry
-
, a Canadian ferry
- Skookums, a dog in Ernest Thompson Seton's 1911 book Rolf in the Woods
Usage examples of "skookum".
Everyone called him Skookum because he was always using slangy Indian expressions when he talked.
In thinking it all over later, he realized that Skookum might have thought he was reaching for a gun.
He did not know how long Officer Stevens would remain unconscious, and he had no idea at what instant Skookum might haul into view with his shotgun.
Everybody had been in dead earnest, from the seedy bum whose gasp had awakened him on the park bench, to Skookum and his shotgun and Officer Stevens and his pistol.
And Skookum, the lunchroom man, and Officer Sam Stevens, had both known Hondo Weatherbee by sight, and had tried to capture him.
The room was a high-powered gambling establishment which Skookum had started on the side.
Joiner, as he seemed to prefer being called for the time being, evidently told Skookum where he could take his ideas.
Skookum was insistent that ten thousand was as cheap as dirt, and the matter was compromised on six hundred dollars, with the added promise that Skookum would get his entrails kicked out if anything went wrong.
Sam Stevens, but the nearest he had ever come to being a policeman was in wearing the uniform which Skookum had bought him.
Hile, Skookum and the others suddenly dashed for the freight and scrambled into an empty box car.
Several of them were there, among these being Big Eva, Skookum and the trio who had failed to commit a murder at the burning coal field in Ohio.
Once an obscure Indian fishing camp, Daw- son City jumped into the world spotlight when, on August 17,1896, George Washington Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Tagish Charlie discovered gold in a nearby creek.
But he knew that Dave Walsh was a big man, worth lots of money, a hi-yu skookum chief.
While he was taking a sleep on the bank about half a mile below the mouth of what was to be known as Eldorado, Skookum Jim tried his luck, and from surface prospects got from ten cents to a dollar to the pan.
Once an obscure Indian fishing camp, Daw- son City jumped into the world spotlight when, on August 17,1896, George Washington Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Tagish Charlie discovered gold in a nearby creek.