sky S2 W2 / skaɪ / 名词 ( 复数形式 skies )

1 [单数形式，不可数] the space above the earth where clouds and the sun and stars appear :

The sky grew dark, and a cold rain began to fall.

A shooting star sped across the night sky.

in the sky

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

2 skies [复数形式] a word meaning ‘sky’, used especially when describing the weather or what the sky looks like in a place :

a land of blue skies and warm sunshine

The skies were overcast, and it was chilly and damp.

3 the sky’s the limit spoken used to say that there is no limit to what someone can achieve, spend, win etc :

Francis believes the sky’s the limit for the young goalkeeper.

→ pie in the sky at pie ( 4 ) , → praise somebody/something to the skies at praise 1 ( 1 )

COLLOCATIONS

ADJECTIVES/NOUN + sky

blue The sky was blue and the sun was shining.

grey British English , gray AmE: Rain was starting to fall from the grey sky.

dark/black Fireworks burst up into the dark sky.

cloudy/dull/overcast (= with clouds ) Cloudy skies were forecast.

bright/clear/cloudless (= without clouds ) The sun rose higher in the cloudless sky.

azure literary (= bright blue ) The sun shone out of a clear azure sky.

leaden/lowering literary (= with a lot of grey cloud ) The leaden skies cleared and the sun came out.

a starry sky (= with a lot of stars ) We had dinner on the terrace under a beautiful starry sky.

the darkening sky (= becoming darker ) Benjamin stared up at the darkening sky.

the lightening sky (= becoming lighter ) A plane flew across the lightening sky.

the night/evening/morning sky The moon is the brightest object visible in the night sky.

the summer/winter sky Her eyes were as blue as the summer sky.

the open sky (= a large area of sky ) They lay on the ground under the open sky.

a big sky (= a sky that looks large ) Montana is still a land of big skies.

动词

the sky darkens The sky darkened and thunder rolled in from the west.

the sky clouds over (= clouds appear ) The sky was beginning to cloud over.

the sky clears (= the clouds disappear ) By dawn the sky had cleared.