skeleton crew

== English == === Etymology === From skeleton (“(military) small number of soldiers in a regiment far short of its full strength; (especially attributive) bare essentials, minimum”) +‎ crew, metaphorically referring to a crew being bare bones rather than adequately fleshed out. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌskɛlɪtn ˈkɹuː/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˌskɛlətən ˈkɹu/ Rhymes: -uː Hyphenation: skel‧e‧ton crew === Noun === skeleton crew (plural skeleton crews) (idiomatic, originally military, nautical) A crew consisting of the minimum number of personnel needed to maintain and operate the basic functions of something, such as a business, a factory, or a ship. Coordinate term: skeleton staff ==== Related terms ==== skeleton service skeleton staff ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== short-staffed skeletonized Thesaurus:bare-bones === References === === Further reading === Skeleton Crew (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia