skim

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

Verb[edit]

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.
    • Alexander Pope
      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.
    • Hazlitt
      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.
    • I. Watts
      They skim over a science in a very 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

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

Translations[edit]

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Adjective[edit]

skim ‎(not comparable)

  1. (of milk) Having lowered fat content.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

having lowered fat content

Noun[edit]

skim ‎(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.
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