Real Dictionary

skeleton
a hard framework consisting of inorganic material that supports and protects the soft parts of an animal's body and provides attachment for muscles: may be internal (an endoskeleton), as in vertebrates, or external (an exoskeleton), as in arthropods [...]
A skeleton staff is the smallest number of staff necessary in order to run an organization or service.
a small simple room, as in a prison, convent, or monastery; cubicle [...]
a tissue composed of bundles of elongated cells capable of contraction and relaxation to produce movement in an organ or part [...]
countable noun: Your skeleton is the framework of bones in your body.

skeleton in American English
of or like a skeleton; specif., of, or having the nature of, the main or essential outline, framework, etc.
the hard framework of an animal body, supporting the tissues and protecting the organs; specif., all the bones collectively, or the bony framework, of a human being or other vertebrate animal
noun: the bones of a human or an animal considered as a whole, together forming the framework of the body

skeleton in British English
noun: a hard framework consisting of inorganic material that supports and protects the soft parts of an animal's body and provides attachment for muscles: may be internal (an endoskeleton), as in vertebrates, or external (an exoskeleton), as in arthropods