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Skim   /skɪm/   Listen
verb
Skim  v. t.  (past & past part. skimmed; pres. part. skimming)  
1.
To clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying thereon, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface; as, to skim milk; to skim broth.
2.
To take off by skimming; as, to skim cream.
3.
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."
4.
Fig.: To read or examine superficially and rapidly, in order to cull the principal facts or thoughts; as, to skim a book or a newspaper.



Skim  v. i.  
1.
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."
2.
To hasten along with superficial attention. "They skim over a science in a very superficial survey."
3.
To put on the finishing coat of plaster.



adjective
Skim  adj.  Contraction of Skimming and Skimmed.
Skim coat, the final or finishing coat of plaster.
Skim colter, a colter for paring off the surface of land.
Skim milk, skimmed milk; milk from which the cream has been taken.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Skim" Quotes from Famous Books



... took her almost two hours each way. She said the kind of costume she required should have been corrugated steel. But all three knew what was being worn, and they wore it—or fairly faithful copies of it. Eva, the housekeeping sister, had a needle knack. She could skim the State Street windows and come away with a mental photograph of every separate tuck, hem, yoke, and ribbon. Heads of departments showed her the things they kept in drawers, and she went home and reproduced them with the aid of a seamstress by the day. Stell, the youngest, was the beauty. ...
— One Basket • Edna Ferber

... the interesting doubt of a wrong reading; such men, in the spirit of pedantry, have refused to Lord Brougham the merit of profundity, while they allow that he possesses a sort of superficial knowledge of the classics; they say that he can gracefully skim the surface of the stream, but that its depths would overwhelm him. Now, while this may be true as regards the fact, we dissent from it as regards the inference. It is a question to be decided between the learned drones of a by-gone school and the quicker ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... deer of the forest At the river stoop to drink, But from the rush of waters All panic-stricken shrink; And the mountain eagles sailing O'er the cataract's foaming brim Alarmed, on soaring pinions, Away, o'er Heaven's clouds skim. ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 3, March, 1852 • Various

... Anglers repaired to the deep pond in quest of trout, but more likely to find water-snakes and snapping turtles. Far in the distance, on the right, moving like fairy gondolas through the cypress-covered lagoon, little barks skim the dark surface. They move like spectres, carrying their fair freight, fanned by the gentle breeze pregnant with the magnolia' sweet perfume. The fair ones in those tiny barks are fishing; they move from tree to tree trailing their lines to tempt ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... a single iceberg is to be seen on this fantastic sea. Innumerable flocks of birds skim its surface, among them is a pelican which is shot. On a floating piece of ice is a bear of the Arctic species and of gigantic size. At last land is signalled. It is an island of a league in circumference, to which the name of Bennet ...
— An Antarctic Mystery • Jules Verne


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