skim.
To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.
Meaning & usage
To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.
To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.
To hasten along with superficial attention.
To put on a finishing coat of plaster.
To throw an object so it bounces on water.
skimming stones
To ricochet.
To read quickly or describe summarily, skipping some detail.
I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.
To scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
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
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
To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
To surreptitiously scan a payment card in order to obtain its information for fraudulent purposes.
To become coated over.
Where this word comes from
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.
Having lowered fat content.
Where this word comes from
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.
A cursory reading, skipping the details.
Skim milk.
The act of skimming.
That which is skimmed off.
Theft of money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.