Definition of "skim"

skim

/skɪm/

verb
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.
  Quotations
  Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
  1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711
2. (transitive) To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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, […]
4. To put on a finishing coat of plaster.
5. (transitive) To throw an object so it bounces on water.
6. (intransitive) To ricochet.
7. (transitive) To read quickly, skipping some detail.
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.
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.
11. To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection.
  Quotations
  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.
13. (intransitive) To become coated over.
adjective
not comparable
1. (of milk) Having lowered fat content.
noun
countable and uncountable, plural skims
1. A cursory reading, skipping the details.
  Quotations
  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. (informal) Skim milk.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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.
  Quotations
  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

Definition of "skim"

skim

verb

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adjective

noun

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