skim
verb
- move lightly over the surface of
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L18445 on Wikidata ↗noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L327871 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /skɪm/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English skemen, skymen, variants of scumen, from Old French escumer (“to remove scum”), from escume (“froth, foam”), from Frankish *skūm (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Germanic *skūmaz (“foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *skew- (“to cover, conceal”). See scum.
- Having lowered fat content.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English skemen, skymen, variants of scumen, from Old French escumer (“to remove scum”), from escume (“froth, foam”), from Frankish *skūm (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Germanic *skūmaz (“foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *skew- (“to cover, conceal”). See scum.
- A cursory reading, skipping the details.
“For a first quick appreciation of the approach, we recommend a fast reading of Chapter 1, then a skim through the figures of the next two chapters — glancing at the definitions of key concepts that appear below the figures in Chapters 2 and 3.”
- Skim milk.
“Two percent milk has only a fraction less fat than whole milk, so unless you are feeding a child or someone whose diet requires whole milk, skim is best.”
- The act of skimming.
“Then you could jump 150 years and enjoy a skim across the Solent in Britain's remarkable Hovercraft.”
- That which is skimmed off.
- Theft of money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
“It's a hustle, but it keeps me busy. I can take in three to three-fifty a week, more with skims.”
“This potential is further increased by the ease of passing on the costs of corruption and racketeering to consumers; a skim of only one percent of a construction project can amount to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English skemen, skymen, variants of scumen, from Old French escumer (“to remove scum”), from escume (“froth, foam”), from Frankish *skūm (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Germanic *skūmaz (“foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *skew- (“to cover, conceal”). See scum.
- To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.
“Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.”
- To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.
“Homer describes Mercury as flinging himself from the top of Olympus, and skimming the surface of the ocean.”
- To hasten along with superficial attention.
“They skim over a science in a very night superficial survey.”
- To put on a finishing coat of plaster.
“Ceilings are lined with fibrous asbestos, the internal plastering being reduced to skimming alone.”
- To throw an object so it bounces on water.
“skimming stones”
- To ricochet.
- To read quickly or describe summarily, skipping some detail.
“(through)”
“I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.”
- To scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
- To clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying on it, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface.
“to skim milk”
“to skim broth”
- To clear a liquid from (scum or substance floating or lying on it), especially the cream that floats on top of fresh milk.
“to skim cream”
- To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
“Obviously, the longer cash sits around before being recorded, the more likely it is that a skimming fraud will occur.”
“[…] take this money without entering anything into the record-keeping system, thereby accomplishing a theft by skimming.”
- To surreptitiously scan a payment card in order to obtain its information for fraudulent purposes.
- To become coated over.