skid
/ˈskɪd/ noun, verb
Forms skids skidding skidded
- noun An out-of-control sliding motion as would result from applying the brakes too hard in a car or other vehicle. “Just before hitting the guardrail the driver regained control and pulled out of the skid.”
- noun A shoe or clog, as of iron, attached to a chain, and placed under the wheel of a wagon to prevent its turning when descending a steep hill.
- noun (by extension) A hook attached to a chain, used for the same purpose.
- noun A runner of a sled. “In the hours before daylight he sharpened the skids and tightened the lashings to prepare for the long dogsled journey.”
- noun A ski-shaped runner or supporting surface as found on a helicopter or other aircraft in place of wheels. “Due to frequent arctic travel, the plane was equipped with long skids for snow and ice landings.”
- noun A basic platform for the storage and transport of goods, machinery or equipment, later developed into the pallet. “He unloaded six skids of boxes from the truck.”
- noun A pallet.
- noun One of a pair of horizontal rails or timbers for supporting anything, such as a boat or barrel.
- verb (intransitive) (of a wheel, sled runner, or vehicle tracks) To slide along the ground, without the rotary motion that wheels or tracks would normally have.
- verb (intransitive) To slide in an uncontrolled manner as in a car with the brakes applied too hard, the wheels sliding with limited spinning. “They skidded around the corner and accelerated up the street.”
- verb (intransitive, transitive, aviation) To operate an aircraft in a banked sideslip with the nose yawed towards the low wing. “Don't use excessive rudder when turning, especially at low airspeed, as this causes your plane to skid through the turn, which can cause you to very rapidly enter a spin if the inner wing stalls.”
- verb (transitive) To protect or support with a skid or skids.
- verb (transitive) To cause to move on skids.
- verb (transitive) To check or halt (wagon wheels, etc.) with a skid.
- noun (Internet slang) A stepchild.
- noun (Internet slang) A script kiddie.
- verb (Internet slang) To steal or copy, especially computer code.
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete) A sovereign (old coin).
Synonyms
skidding wheelslide sideslip drag skidpan brake shoe shoe slip slue slew slide
Etymology
From Middle English *skid, from Old Norse skíð (“a billet of wood, a beam or plank on which something rests”), from Proto-Germanic *skīdą (“log, clapboard”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey-t-, *skey- (“to split, divide, separate”). Cognate with English shide, from Middle English schyd, schyde, schide (“plank, beam”), German Scheit (“piece of wood, log”). Doublet of ski.
Shortening of stepkid.
Shortened from script kiddie, probably via skiddie.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A shoe or clog, as of iron, attached to a chain, and placed under the wheel of a wagon to prevent its turning when descending a steep hill; a drag; a skidpan; also, by extension, a hook attached to a chain, and used for the same purpose.
- noun A piece of timber used as a support, or to receive pressure.
- verb To protect or support with a skid or skids; also, to cause to move on skids.
- verb To check with a skid, as wagon wheels. Dickens.
Etymology [Icel. ski a billet of wood. See Shide.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “skid”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details