skerries n pl OED skerry sb2 Sc (1612-); EDD sb1 1, 2 Sh I, Ork. In place-names, small islets; underwater shoals or rocks on which seas break.
1878 Nfld ot 232 The Skerries with 6 fathoms, lies E. ¼ S. 6 miles. 1909 BROWNE 257 After leaving Venison Island we passed close by the 'Skerries' and 'Eddystone' islands. 1951 Nfld & Lab Pilot i, 73 Small point is rounded and 318 feet high; close southward of it is Skerries bight. 1953 ibid ii, 383 The Skerries, a bank with depths of 8 fathoms over it, lies about three-quarters of a mile north-eastward of Flat island; the sea is reported to break on it during heavy gales. 1971 SEARY 76 The current local name [of islets in Trinity Bay] is The Skerries, found also in Skerrys Bight.
