SKIM (skimmed, skimming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: skimmed    , skimming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does skim mean? 

• SKIM (noun)
  The noun SKIM has 2 senses:

1. a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid

2. reading or glancing through quickly

  Familiarity information: SKIM used as a noun is rare.

• SKIM (adjective)
  The adjective SKIM has 1 sense:

1. used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed

  Familiarity information: SKIM used as an adjective is very rare.

• SKIM (verb)
  The verb SKIM has 7 senses:

1. travel on the surface of water

2. move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of

3. examine hastily

4. cause to skip over a surface

5. coat (a liquid) with a layer

6. remove from the surface

7. read superficially

  Familiarity information: SKIM used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SKIM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A thin layer covering the surface of a liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

there was a thin skim of oil on the water

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reading or glancing through quickly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

skim; skimming

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

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

Derivation:

skim (read superficially)

skim (examine hastily)

• SKIM (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

skim; skimmed

Context example:

she can drink skimmed milk but should avoid butter

Similar:

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

• SKIM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they skim    ... he / she / it skims   
Past simple: skimmed   
Past participle: skimmed   
-ing form: skimming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Travel on the surface of water

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

plane; skim

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 2

Meaning:

Move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

skim; skim over

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:

Examine hastily

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

glance over; rake; run down; scan; skim

Context example:

She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi

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)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to skip over a surface

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

skim; skip; skitter

Context example:

Skip a stone across the pond

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

throw (propel through the air)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 5

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 6

Meaning:

Remove from the surface

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cream; cream off; skim; skim off

Context example:

skim cream from the surface of milk

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 7

Meaning:

Read superficially

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

skim; skim over

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)

 Context examples 

Silver, though he was almost killed already with fatigue, was set to an oar, like the rest of us, and we were soon skimming swiftly over a smooth sea.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Each of these weeklong orbits — 20 in all — carries the spacecraft high above Saturn's northern hemisphere before sending it skimming past the outer edges of the planet's main rings.

(Over Saturn's Turbulent North, NASA)

I wanted to be the one to tell you the grand surprise, and have 'first skim' as we used to say when we squabbled about the cream.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had broken through the melting snow crust, and wallowed, while the snowshoe rabbits had skimmed along on top lightly as ever.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He read the letter, skimming it line by line, dashing through the editor's praise of his story to the meat of the letter, the statement why the check had not been sent.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

OUT of the whole of that vast multitude I was one of the very few who had observed whence it was that this black hat, skimming so opportunely over the ropes, had come.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For example, an ultra-processed breakfast might consist of a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon, while the unprocessed breakfast was oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk.

(Heavily processed foods cause overeating and weight gain, National Institutes of Health)

Whipping the other from his belt, he sent it skimming some few feet from the earth with so true an aim that it struck and transfixed the stork for the second time ere it could reach the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A huge black shadow, twenty feet across, skimmed up into the air; for an instant the monster wings blotted out the stars, and then it vanished over the brow of the cliff above us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is impossible; even now your eye skims over the page to seek the words which are to convey to you the horrible tidings.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)