skelp
To beat or slap with the hand.
transitive
But Mistress Munro would up and be at the door and in she'd yank Andy by the lug, and some said she'd take down his breeks and skelp him, but maybe that was a lie.
To beat, pound or hammer.
transitive
... hither blith comes tinker John, Who skelps the kettle, and sweet tunes the drone, […]
To drive by blows; to drive (hard), to cause to move rapidly.
My fair opponents skelp me aff,[…]
To move briskly along; to run.
intransitive
[…] the lassie became extremely wild, ran like a hare, and […] skelped home in a crack, on the "light side of her foot," to Barniewater.
Where it comes from
From Middle English skelpen, probably of imitative origin. The noun is from Middle English skelp, from the verb.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry skelp (CC BY-SA 4.0).