skipper

I. n

British

1.

a captain of a ship or a team. Skipper in this sense is not, strictly speaking, slang, although it is considered to be so by some. The word has been in use since it was anglicised from the Middle Dutch schipper(from schip: a ship).

2.

a rough shelter, place to sleep for the night, typically in a derelict building. The word, which may describe no more than a patch of rough ground, is now a near-synonym for doss house or derry. It is part of the vocabulary of tramps, dossers and other down-and-outs, and originated in Celtic words for barn (rendered as ysgu-bor in Welsh, sciber in Old Cornish).

► 'When you're drunk and face-down in some skipper you just don't think there's much future in it.' (Recorded, vagrant, Waterloo, London, 1987)

3.

a friend, 'mate'. A friendly term of address between males, now rarely used except by vagrants.

II. vb

British

to sleep rough, be homeless. From the noun.

I tell you, I was forced to skipper. I never had any choice.'

(Recorded, vagrant, Waterloo, London, 1987)