skim

present singular third person skims · participle present skimming · participle past skimmed · past skimmed

1. intransitiveTo 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.

   1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC

2. transitiveTo 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.

   1817, William Hazlitt, The Round Table

3. To hasten along with superficial attention.

   They skim over a science in a very slight superficial survey.

   1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC

4. To put on a finishing coat of plaster.

   Ceilings are lined with fibrous asbestos, the internal plastering being reduced to skimming alone.

   1924, The Architect, volume 112, page 291

5. transitiveTo throw an object so it bounces on water.

   skimming stones

6. intransitiveTo ricochet.
7. transitiveTo read quickly or describe summarily, skipping some detail.

   (through)

   1 more example

   I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.

   Synonyms: skip

8. transitiveTo scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
9. transitiveTo 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

   1 more example

   to skim broth

10. transitiveTo 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

11. To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.

    Obviously, the longer cash sits around before being recorded, the more likely it is that a skimming fraud will occur.

    2006, Herbert Snyder, Small Change, Big Problems, page 48

    1 more example

    […] take this money without entering anything into the record-keeping system, thereby accomplishing a theft by skimming.

    2009, Tracy L. Coenen, Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide, page 109

12. To surreptitiously scan a payment card in order to obtain its information for fraudulent purposes.
13. intransitiveTo become coated over.

1. not comparableHaving lowered fat content.

plural skims

1. countableuncountableA cursory reading, skipping the details.

   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.

   2012, John Friend, Allen Hickling, Planning Under Pressure, page xxii

2. countableinformaluncountableSkim milk.

   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.

   2010, Gary G. Kindley, Growing Older Without Fear: The Nine Qualities of Successful Aging

3. countableuncountableThe act of skimming.

   Then you could jump 150 years and enjoy a skim across the Solent in Britain's remarkable Hovercraft.

   1969, Newsweek, volume 74, page 75

4. countableuncountableThat which is skimmed off.
5. countableuncountableTheft of money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.

   It's a hustle, but it keeps me busy. I can take in three to three-fifty a week, more with skims.

   1976, Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver, spoken by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)

   1 more example

   This potential is further increased by the ease of passing on the costs of corruption and racketeering to consumers; a skim of only one percent of a construction project can amount to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

   1989, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee, Waste, Fraud, and Abuse at Federally Funded Wastewater Treatment Construction Projects, volume 4