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Skimming   /skˈɪmɪŋ/   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.



noun
Skimming  n.  
1.
The act of one who skims.
2.
That which is skimmed from the surface of a liquid; chiefly used in the plural; as, the skimmings of broth.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Skimming" Quotes from Famous Books



... white or gayly-painted lateen sails gleaming in the evening glow, large galleys, light skiffs, and restless, skimming pleasure-boats, were flitting to and fro; and among them, like loaded wagons among chariots and horsemen, the low corn-barges scarcely seemed to move, piled as they were with pyramids of straw and grain as high as ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... are shy and capricious; they keep on the open plains, are quick to take the alarm, and bound away with a fleetness that defies pursuit. When thus skimming across a prairie in the autumn, their light gray or dun color blends with the hue of the withered herbage, the swiftness of their motion baffles the eye, and they almost seem unsubstantial forms, driven ...
— Astoria - Or, Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The Rocky Mountains • Washington Irving

... to a considerable distance in the interior. There are, however, some grounds to believe that a lake or run of fresh water exists not far from Denial Bay: the flock of teal seen upon the western Isle of St. Peter, and the number of winged, fresh-water insects skimming the surface of that bay, are the grounds to which ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis • Matthew Flinders

... the air, Pegasus seemed hardly to be a creature of the earth. Whenever he was seen, up very high above people's heads, with the sunshine on his silvery wings, you would have thought that he belonged to the sky, and that, skimming a little too low, he had got astray among our mists and vapours, and was seeking his way back again. It was very pretty to behold him plunge into the fleecy bosom of a bright cloud, and be lost in it, for a moment or two, and then break forth from ...
— Myths That Every Child Should Know - A Selection Of The Classic Myths Of All Times For Young People • Various

... now bubbling over with excitement. The speed of the steamer had, without a doubt, been slackened, and a boat was being lowered. Brand and his companion, immensely happy, were already dotting down their notes for the wireless. The seaplane was gently skimming the water almost alongside, and barely fifty yards away. The pilot and his companion were clearly visible. The passengers lined the whole length of the steamer, leaning over to watch the denouement of ...
— The Box with Broken Seals • E. Phillips Oppenheim


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