skate

views updated May 29 2018

skate1 / skāt/ • n. an ice skate or roller skate. ∎  a device, typically with wheels on the underside, used to move a heavy or unwieldy object.• v. [intr.] move on ice skates or roller skates in a gliding fashion: the boys were skating on the ice. ∎  [tr.] perform (a specified figure) on skates: figure eights skated entirely on one foot. ∎  ride on a skateboard. ∎  (skate over/around) fig. pass over or refer only fleetingly to (a subject or problem): she seemed to skate over the next part of her story. ∎  (skate through) fig. make quick and easy progress through: he admits he had expected to skate through the system.DERIVATIVES: skat·er n.skate2 • n. (pl. same or skates ) a typically large marine fish of the ray family (Rajidae) with a cartilaginous skeleton and a flattened diamond-shaped body, in particular the commercially valuable Raja batis. ∎  the flesh of a skate or thornback used as food.

skate

views updated May 21 2018

skate2 device fixed on the sole of a boot for gliding over ice. XVII. orig. in pl. scates, occas. scatses — Du. schaats (pl. schaatsen), in MDu. schaetse — (with unexpl. development of sense) ONF. escace, OF. eschasse (mod. échasse) stilt. The -s of the Du. word was apprehended as a pl. ending.
Hence vb. XVII.

skate

views updated Jun 27 2018

skate Flattened, food fish belonging to the ray family, living mainly in shallow temperate and tropical waters. The pectoral fins are greatly expanded to form wing-like flaps. Length: to about 2.5m (8ft). Family Rajidae.

skate

views updated Jun 11 2018

skate Cartilaginous fish, Raja undulata.

skate

views updated May 23 2018

skate See RAJIDAE.

skate

views updated May 29 2018

skate1 fish of the genus Raja. XIV. — ON. skata.