skim

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   used of milk and milk products from which the cream has been removed

   yogurt made with skim milk

2. 2
   noun

   a thin layer covering the surface of a liquid

   there was a thin skim of oil on the water

3. 3
   verb

   remove from the surface

   skim cream from the surface of milk

4. 4
   verb

   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.

5. 5
   verb

   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.

6. 6
   verb

   To hasten along with superficial attention.

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

7. 7
   verb

   To put on a finishing coat of plaster.

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

8. 8
   verb

   To throw an object so it bounces on water.

   skimming stones

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.