skate1

[skeyt] /skeɪt/
noun
1.
ice skate (def 1).
2.
roller skate.
3.
the blade of an ice skate.
4.
a skid on a lifeboat to facilitate launching from a listing ship.
verb (used without object), skated, skating.
5.
to glide or propel oneself over ice, the ground, etc., on skates.
6.
to glide or slide smoothly along.
7.
Slang. to shirk one's duty; loaf.
8.
(of the tone arm on a record player) to swing toward the spindle while a record is playing.
verb (used with object), skated, skating.
9.
to slide (a flat) across the floor of a stage.
Idioms
10.
get / put one's skates on, British Informal. to make haste.
11.
skate on thin ice, to be or place oneself in a risky or delicate situation:
Taking a public stand on the question would be skating on thin ice.
Origin
1640-50; orig. plural scates < Dutch schaats (singular) skate, Middle Dutch schaetse stilt (compare Medieval Latin scatia) < ?
Related forms
skateable, adjective

skate2

[skeyt] /skeɪt/
noun, plural (especially collectively) skate (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) skates.
1.
any of several rays of the genus Raja, usually having a pointed snout, as R. binoculata (big skate) inhabiting waters along the Pacific coast of the U.S., growing to a length of 8 feet (2.4 meters).
Origin
1300-50; Middle English scate < Old Norse skati

skate3

[skeyt] /skeɪt/
noun, Slang.
1.
a person; fellow:
He's a good skate.
2.
a contemptible person.
3.
an inferior, decrepit horse; nag.
Origin
perhaps special use of skate2
Examples from the web for skate
  • The test then would be to do the same experiment on ice with skate blades.
  • So, let's skate to where the puck will be and invest in electric vehicles.
  • High level sources that skate below safety maximums provide the ability to concentrate in the consuming public.
  • But unfortunately, slackers have figured out that some faculty will let them skate by with a minimal amount of work.
  • skate fast over the surfaces of life and cover all the extended space you can, says the new ethos.
  • skaters are the same way, always watchful for something to skate, to use.
  • When in town, they skate or walk or visit the riding-school: all good.
  • Chroniclers prefer to skate over it or, where possible, elide it altogether.
  • Water striders skate over the surface of water, using their legs to sense waves from their prey.
  • The songs do not generally thump-they bounce and skate.
British Dictionary definitions for skate

skate1

/skeɪt/
noun
1.
See roller skate, ice skate
2.
the steel blade or runner of an ice skate
3.
such a blade fitted with straps for fastening to a shoe
4.
a current collector on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail Compare bow collector
5.
get one's skates on, to hurry
verb (intransitive)
6.
to glide swiftly on skates
7.
to slide smoothly over a surface
8.
skate on thin ice, to place oneself in a dangerous or delicate situation
Word Origin
C17: via Dutch from Old French éschasse stilt, probably of Germanic origin

skate2

/skeɪt/
noun (pl) skate, skates
1.
any large ray of the family Rajidae, of temperate and tropical seas, having flat pectoral fins continuous with the head, two dorsal fins, a short spineless tail, and a long snout
Word Origin
C14: from Old Norse skata

skate3

/skeɪt/
noun
1.
(US, slang) a person; fellow
Word Origin
from Scottish and northern English dialect skate, a derogatory term of uncertain origin
Word Origin and History for skate
n.

"type of flat, cartilaginous fish, a kind of ray," mid-14c., from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse skata "skate," Danish skade, Faeroese skøta, of unknown origin.

"ice skate," 1660s, skeates "ice skates," from Dutch schaats (plural schaatsen), a singular mistaken in English for plural, from Middle Dutch schaetse. The word and the custom were brought to England after the Restoration by exiled followers of Charles II who had taken refuge in Holland.

The Dutch word is from Old North French escache "a stilt, trestle," related to Old French eschace "stilt" (French échasse), from Frankish *skakkja "stilt" or a similar Germanic source (cf. Frisian skatja "stilt"), perhaps literally "thing that shakes or moves fast" and related to root of Old English sceacan "to vibrate" (see shake (v.)). Or perhaps [Klein] the Dutch word is connected to Middle Low German schenke, Old English scanca "leg" (see shank). Sense alteration in Dutch from "stilt" to "skate" is not clearly traced. Sense in English extended to roller-skates by 1876. Meaning "an act of skating" is from 1853.

v.

1690s, "to ice-skate," from skate (n.2). U.S. slang sense of "to get away with something" is attested from 1945. Related: Skated; skating.

Slang definitions & phrases for skate

skate

noun

An inferior horse: They'd kill that bunch of skates for their hides (1894+)

verb
  1. To default a debt; avoid paying (1930s+ Black)
  2. To leave; split (1915+)
  3. To evade duty; goldbrick, goof off: The gunny accuses you of trying to skate (WWII armed forces)

Idioms and Phrases with skate

skate

In addition to the idiom beginning with
skate
also see: