Wiktionary

skim

English

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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skim (third-person singular simple present skims, present participle skimming, simple past and past participle skimmed)

  1. (intransitive) To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.
    • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:
      Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
  2. (transitive) To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.
    • 1817, William Hazlitt, The Round Table:
      Homer describes Mercury as flinging himself from the top of Olympus, and skimming the surface of the ocean.
  3. To hasten along with superficial attention.
    • 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
      They skim over a science in a very night superficial survey.
  4. To put on a finishing coat of plaster.
  5. (transitive) To throw an object so it bounces on water.
    skimming stones
  6. (intransitive) To ricochet.
  7. (transitive) To read quickly, skipping some detail.
    I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.
  8. (transitive) To scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
  9. (transitive) 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
  10. (transitive) 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
  11. To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
    • 2006, Herbert Snyder, Small Change, Big Problems, page 48:
      Obviously, the longer cash sits around before being recorded, the more likely it is that a skimming fraud will occur.
    • 2009, Tracy L. Coenen, Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide, page 109:
      […] take this money without entering anything into the record-keeping system, thereby accomplishing a theft by skimming.
  12. To surreptitiously scan a payment card in order to obtain its information for fraudulent purposes.
  13. (intransitive) To become coated over.

Derived terms

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Derived terms

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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skim (not comparable)

  1. (of milk) Having lowered fat content.

Derived terms

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Translations

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having lowered fat content

Noun

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skim (countable and uncountable, plural skims)

  1. A cursory reading, skipping the details.
    • 2012, John Friend, Allen Hickling, Planning Under Pressure, page xxii:
      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.
  2. (informal) Skim milk.
    • 2010, Gary G. Kindley, Growing Older Without Fear: The Nine Qualities of Successful Aging:
      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.
  3. The act of skimming.
    • 1969, Newsweek, volume 74, page 75:
      Then you could jump 150 years and enjoy a skim across the Solent in Britain's remarkable Hovercraft.
  4. That which is skimmed off.
  5. Theft of money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
    • 1976, Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver, spoken by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro):
      It's a hustle, but it keeps me busy. I can take in three to three-fifty a week, more with skims.
    • 1989, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee, Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at Federally Funded Wastewater Treatment Construction Projects, volume 4:
      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.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Indonesian: skim

Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Etymology

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From Dutch schim, from Middle Dutch schim, schem, from Old Dutch *skim, *skimo, from Proto-Germanic *skimaz, *skimô (“shine; light”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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skim (plural skimme)

  1. A shade, a shadow, a spectre.

Indonesian

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Etymology

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From English skim, 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”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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skim (plural skim-skim)

  1. skim milk: non-fat milk; milk that has had the cream removed.

Usage notes

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The word is part of difference between Standard Malay and Indonesian. The Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore usage can be seen in Malay skim.

Malay

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Etymology

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From English scheme.

Noun

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skim (plural skim-skim, informal 1st possessive skimku, 2nd possessive skimmu, 3rd possessive skimnya)

  1. scheme.

Usage notes

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The word is part of difference between Standard Malay and Indonesian. The Indonesian usage can be seen in Indonesian skim.

Alternative forms

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