IT MAY seem superfluous in these days to explain what skyscraper is; nevertheless, its present definition is relatively recent. In the multivolume edition of 1933 the Oxford English Dictionary lists six definitions for skyscraper. The first, nautical meaning, is triangular sky-sail. Then follow several colloquial meanings: high-standing horse; bicycle with very high wheel in the back; an exceptionally man; and an exaggerated tale, or tall story. Finally comes a high building of many stories, especially one of those characteristic of American cities. Here we get into geography: in 1933 skyscrapers were apparently to be found more extensively in American cities than in cities in other parts of the world. However, the single-volume Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, published in 1962, gives only the last meaning, the many-storied building, and location in American cities is not mentioned, which indicates an evolution not only in the term but in the areal distribution of the structure.
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Jean Gottmann (1966) studied this question.