Meaning

noun a bowling pin of the type used in playing ninepins or (in England) skittles

verb play skittles

originOrigin unknown. Perhaps of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse skutill (“bolt, harpoon”), related to skjóta (“to shoot”), but the OED dismisses this connection as conjecture. The Old Norse word is related to Swedish and Danish skyttel (“shuttle, child's toy”). Compare also Old English sċytel (“a dart, bolt”). More at shuttle.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0