skillygalee

English

Alternative forms

• skilligalee
• skilligolee

Etymology

Unknown and much-speculated (compare lobscouse and other fancifully-named hardy foods), but possibly Irish in root.

Noun

skillygalee (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, nautical) A type of gruel made from oatmeal, oft-served historically in poorhouses, sailors' ships, etc.
   • 2005, Gregory Fremont-Barnes, Steve Noon, Nelson's Sailors, Osprey Publishing, page 24:

     Breakfast was served at 8am and sometimes consisted of skillygalee, a sort of oatmeal gruel prepared in fatty water and which by the time of Trafalgar included butter and sugar.

2. (obsolete) A thin broth generally prepared by soaking hardtack in water, and frying with pork fat/lard.
   • 2004, Brian Leehan, Pale Horse at Plum Run: The First Minnesota at Gettysburg, Minnesota Historical Society Press, page 200:

     Skillygalee was born of left-over pork grease and crackers too tough to bite and chew.