Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - skeleton

 I. noun  Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, neuter of skeletos dried up; akin to Greek skellein to dry up, skleros hard and perhaps to Old English sceald shallow  Date: 1578  1. a usually rigid supportive or protective structure or framework of an organism; especially the bony or more or less cartilaginous framework supporting the soft tissues and protecting the internal organs of a vertebrate  2. something reduced to its minimum form or essential parts  3. an emaciated person or animal  4.  a. something forming a structural framework  b. the straight or branched chain or ring of atoms that forms the basic structure of an organic molecule  5. something shameful and kept secret (as in a family) — often used in the phrase ~ in the closet  • ~ic adjective  II. adjective  Date: 1778 of, consisting of, or resembling a ~