skin n
1 Phr skin of fur: the pelt of a fur-bearing animal; cp FUR n 1.
1918 Deep Sea Fishers xv, p. 137 [He] existed...on a very pauperizing form of 'charity,' with a semi-occasional 'skin of fur.' 1984 POWELL 76 So every time you got a skin of fur, you'd count the nails [driven into a nearby tree to mark the location of the trap]. Sometimes there would be a tie between the waters [frequented by the animals]; other times, between traps. But mostly each year one trap would always keep a little ahead by one skin of fur.
2 Attrib ~ boot.
T 1062-72 I had on a pair o' those skin boots, you know, tie up round here. 1984 KALLEO 9 Some women would be cleaning the [seal] skins to make skin-boots because there were no rubbers or shoes when I was a child. 1986 SAUNDERS 52 I had on knee rubbers but Jim wore skin boots--sealskin leggings handsewn to rawhide moccasins.
