skim
pronunciation
How to pronounce skim in British English:
UK [skɪm]
How to pronounce skim in American English:
US [skɪm]
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- Noun:
- a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid
- reading or glancing through quickly
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- Verb:
- travel on the surface of water
- move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of
- examine hastily
- cause to skip over a surface
- coat (a liquid) with a layer
- remove from the surface
- read superficially
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- Adjective:
- used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed
Word Origin
- skim
- skim: see scum
- skim (v.)
- early 15c. (skimmer, the utensil, is attested from late 14c.), "to clear (a liquid) from matter floating on the surface, lift the scum from," from Old French escumer "remove scum," from escume (Modern French écume) "scum," from a Germanic source (compare Old High German scum "scum," German Schaum; see scum). Meaning "to throw (a stone) so as to skip across the surface of (water) is from 1610s. Meaning "to move lightly and rapidly over the surface of" is from 1650s, from the motion involved in skimming liquid; that of "to glance over carelessly" (in reference to printed matter) recorded by 1799. Related: Skimmed; skimming.
Example
- 1. The fountain of youth can be found under feathery bangs that skim your eyebrows .
- 2. Flying fish , it seems , use this effect to their advantage as they skim across the sea .
- 3. The original landing area turned out to be full of large boulders , and so he had to take control from his spacecraft 's primitive computer and skim across the lunar surface on manual control , looking for somewhere suitable .
- 4. Rocket-boosted aircraft , spun off from some future industry breakthrough , might enable passengers to blast into suborbit , skim above the stratosphere at hypersonic speeds , and make the trip from new york to sydney or tokyo in just a few hours .
- 5. Read ( or at least skim ) the assigned readings prior to class .