1. The act of removing floating material from the surface of a liquid
   "The skimming of oil from the water's surface was part of the cleanup effort"
    
2. Reading or glancing through quickly
   "A quick skimming of the report revealed the key points";
   - skim
    
3. The act of brushing against while passing
   "The skimming of the rock across the water created ripples";
   - grazing, shaving
    
4. Failure to declare income in order to avoid paying taxes on it
   "The restaurant owner was caught skimming cash from the daily receipts"

1. Move or pass swiftly and lightly over the surface of
   "The birds skimmed over the water"; "She skimmed through the magazine";
   - skim over
    
2. Travel on the surface of water
   "The water skier skimmed over the waves";
   - plane
    
3. Remove from the surface
   "skim cream from the surface of milk"; "skim off cream from the surface of milk";
   - skim off, cream off, cream
    
4. Coat (a liquid) with a layer
   "Skim the fat off the top of the soup"
    
5. Cause to move quickly over a surface with small jumps
   "skim a stone across the pond";
   - skip, skitter
    
6. Read superficially
   "He skimmed the report before the meeting"; "She skimmed over the less important sections";
   - skim over
    
7. Examine hastily
   "She skimmed the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi";
   - scan, rake, glance over, run down

Derived forms: skimmings

See also: cream off

Type of: coat, examine, glide, larceny, read, reading, remotion [archaic], removal, remove, see, stealing, surface, take, take away, theft, thievery, thieving, throw, touch, touching, wing, withdraw

Encyclopedia: Skimming