skate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to move over ice or a hard surface wearing skates

   The Dutch often skate along the frozen canals in winter.

2. 2
   noun

   a boot with a blade or wheels attached, used for gliding over ice or ground

   She laced up her skates and stepped onto the ice.

3. 3
   noun

   a period or act of skating

   The boys had a skate every morning when the lake was frozen.

Back-formation from Dutch schaats, from Middle Dutch schāetse, from Old Northern French escache (“a stilt, trestle”) (compare French échasse and English scatch), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *skakkjā (“stilt”, literally “thing that moves”), related to *skakan (“to shake, swing”).

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