Library / English Dictionary

SKIM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: skimmed    , skimming   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reading or glancing through quickly

Synonyms:

skim; skimming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("skim" is a kind of...):

reading (the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message)

Derivation:

skim (read superficially)

skim (examine hastily)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A thin layer covering the surface of a liquid

Example:

there was a thin skim of oil on the water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("skim" is a kind of...):

cover; covering; natural covering (a natural object that covers or envelops)

Derivation:

skim (remove from the surface)

skim (coat (a liquid) with a layer)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed

Example:

she can drink skimmed milk but should avoid butter

Synonyms:

skim; skimmed

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

fat-free; fatless; nonfat (without fat or fat solids)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Read superficially

Synonyms:

skim; skim over

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

read (interpret something that is written or printed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

skim (reading or glancing through quickly)

skimmer (a rapid superficial reader)

skimming (reading or glancing through quickly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of

Synonyms:

skim; skim over

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

touch (make physical contact with, come in contact with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Remove from the surface

Example:

skim cream from the surface of milk

Synonyms:

cream; cream off; skim; skim off

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

skim off (pick the best)

Derivation:

skim (a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid)

skimmer (a cooking utensil used to skim fat from the surface of liquids)

skimming (the act of removing floating material from the surface of a liquid)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Coat (a liquid) with a layer

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

coat; surface (put a coat on; cover the surface of; furnish with a surface)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

skim (a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause to skip over a surface

Example:

Skip a stone across the pond

Synonyms:

skim; skip; skitter

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

throw (propel through the air)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Travel on the surface of water

Synonyms:

plane; skim

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

glide (move smoothly and effortlessly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "skim"):

aquaplane (ride on an aquaplane)

aquaplane (rise up onto a thin film of water between the tires and road so that there is no more contact with the road)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Examine hastily

Example:

She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi

Synonyms:

glance over; rake; run down; scan; skim

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "skim" is one way to...):

examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

skim; skimming (reading or glancing through quickly)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Undulating hills were changed to valleys, undulating valleys (with a solitary storm-bird sometimes skimming through them) were lifted up to hills; masses of water shivered and shook the beach with a booming sound; every shape tumultuously rolled on, as soon as made, to change its shape and place, and beat another shape and place away; the ideal shore on the horizon, with its towers and buildings, rose and fell; the clouds fell fast and thick; I seemed to see a rending and upheaving of all nature.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

We discovered that some of the freeze-dried fruit powders—especially strawberries—completely prevent the melt-down of dairy frozen desserts similar to ice cream made with whole milk, whole whipping cream, sugar and skim milk powder, Bilbao-Sainz said.

(Freeze-Dried Strawberries and Ice Cream Make for a Very Stable Relationship, Agricultural Research Service)

I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap; she filled on the port tack and was off again, stooping and skimming like a swallow.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But the cub saw, and it was a warning and a lesson to him—the swift downward swoop of the hawk, the short skim of its body just above the ground, the strike of its talons in the body of the ptarmigan, the ptarmigan's squawk of agony and fright, and the hawk's rush upward into the blue, carrying the ptarmigan away with it

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As he did so we saw, at the distance of a mile or so, something which appeared to be a huge gray bird flap slowly up from the ground and skim smoothly off, flying very low and straight, until it was lost among the tree-ferns.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To every traveller it was a sight of beauty, but to me it was the world—the great wide free world—and my heart thrilled and fluttered as the young bird’s may when it first hears the whirr of its own flight, and skims along with the blue heaven above it and the green fields beneath.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As he spoke he raised his arbalest to his shoulder and was about to pull the trigger, when a large gray stork flapped heavily into view skimming over the brow of the hill, and then soaring up into the air to pass the valley.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I felt the words of my lessons slipping off, not one by one, or line by line, but by the entire page; I tried to lay hold of them; but they seemed, if I may so express it, to have put skates on, and to skim away from me with a smoothness there was no checking.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Amy's face was a study when she saw her sister skim into the next drawing room, kiss all the young ladies with effusion, beam graciously upon the young gentlemen, and join in the chat with a spirit which amazed the beholder.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had merely skimmed over the surface of things, observing detached phenomena, accumulating fragments of facts, making superficial little generalizations—and all and everything quite unrelated in a capricious and disorderly world of whim and chance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)