Etymology 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.
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.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
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.1817, William Hazlitt, The Round Table:
3
To hasten along with superficial attention.
They skim over a science in a very night 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
To throw an object so it bounces on water.
skimming stones
6
To ricochet.
7
To read quickly or describe summarily, skipping some detail.
(through)
I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.
8
To scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
9
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
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
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:
[…] 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.
Etymology 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.
Etymology 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.
1
A 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:
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
The 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
That which is skimmed off.
5
Theft 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):
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: