▪ I. skate, n.1
(skeɪt)
Forms: α. 4–5 schat(e, 4–9 scate, 7 scaite. β. 6 skete, 6–8 skeat(e, 7 skeite; 6, 8 skait(e, 7– skate (7 skatt).
[a. ON. skata (still in Norw. and Icel. use; Færöese sköta).]
1. a. A fish of the genus Raia; esp. the common species Raia batis, a very large, flat, cartilaginous fish much used for food.
| α c 1340 Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 36, j Schat. Ibid., x schat. c 1375 Ibid. 46 In vij scates. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 443/1 Scate, fysche, ragadies. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 764/39 Hic garus, a schate. 1530 Palsgr. 266/1 Scate fysshe, raye. 1570 Levins Manip. 39/11 A Scate, fishe, batis, raia. 1601 Chester Love's Mart. lxxxii, The Skate, the Roch, the Tench, the pretie Wincle. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 119 Yet is it commonly contrived out of the skins of Thornebacks, Scaites or Maids. 1737 Ochtertyre House Bk. (S.H.S.) 27 For scate and flounders [{pstlg}]0. 0. 7. 1800 Colquhoun Comm. Thames xv. 440 Haddock, Scate, fresh Ling. |
| β 1538 Elyot Dict., Raia, a see fysshe called Raye or skete. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 13 Mony kyndes of fische, cheiflie in thrie, Killine, Skait, and Makrell. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 439 The fresh gall of a Ray or Skeat..is an excellent medicine for the eares. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 213 One fish like to a Skate we caught. 1701 C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 61 In shape like a Skate or Flare as we call them in Cambridge. 1752 Hill Hist. Anim. 308 The variegated Raia, with the middle of the back smooth.., The Skaite. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 422 There is reason to believe that the true Skate produces its young later in the season than either the Thornback or the Homelyn. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 667 Of the Skates, Raiidæ, there are five species on our Atlantic coast. |
b. With distinguishing
adjs.| 1611 Cotgr., Raye estelée, the starrie Skate. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 130 Raia Fullonica,..the Fuller-Scate. Ibid., Spinosa,..the Card-scate. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 421 The Skate. Blue Skate, and Grey Skate, Scotland. 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 40 Raia erinacea, Common Skate; Little Skate. Raia ocellata,..Big Skate. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 104 Crab-eating Skate, Rhina Skate. |
† 2. The angel-fish.
Obs.| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 133 Scate, Angel-fish. 1681 Grew Musæum i. v. i. 96 The Scate, or Angel-Fish. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
skate-fish,
skate-liver oil,
skate soup,
skate-tailed,
skate-toothed;
skate-barrow, the egg-case of a skate;
skate-bread (see
quot.);
skate-leech, a leech which infests the skate;
skate maid (see
maid n.1 7);
skate-rumple, the hinder quarters of a skate;
skate-shears (see
quot.);
skate-sucker = skate-leech.
| 1851 Thoreau Jrnl. 27 July in Writings (1906) VIII. 354 Skates' eggs, called in England *skate-barrows from their form, on the sand. 1884 Evang. Mag. Aug. 344 The so-called ‘Mermaid's-Purses’..the fishermen call..‘Skate-barrers’. |
| 1681 in Macfarlane Geogr. Coll. (S.H.S.) III. 191 *Skatebread, which is a small fish, an inch and a half long. |
| 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden O iv b, Like restie bacon, or a dride *scate⁓fish. a 1801 R. Gall Poems & Songs (1819) 69 Our wames e'en to our rigging-bane Like skate-fish clapping. |
| 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 404 The best-known example is the *skate-leech (Pontobdella muricata, L.), which is olive-coloured and dusted with whitish grains. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Skate-liver oil, a fish oil often sold for the same purposes as cod-liver oil. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 422 Fishermen distinguish the females..by the names of *Skate Maid, Thornback Maid, and Homelyn Maid. |
| 1824 Scott St. Ronan's iii, [An] auld fule.., that may hae some judgment in cock-bree or in *scate-rumples. |
| 1810 Niell List Fishes 27 (Jam.), The male..possesses long sharp-edged appendages on the lower part of his body..; and fishers call these appendages *skate-sheers. |
| 1710 P. Lamb Royal Cookery 25 *Scate or Thornback-Soupe. |
| 1829 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XX. 289/1 The type of the genus is Hirudo muricata, Lin., well known to fishermen under the name of *Skate⁓sucker. 1882 Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 242 The Skate⁓sucker belongs to the genus Pontobdella. |
| 1713 Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 181 *Scate-tail'd Sicilian Amaranth. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 393 The..*Skate-toothed shark. 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 296 Smooth-hound,..skate-toothed dog, in allusion to its dentition. |
▪ II. skate, n.2 (
skeɪt)
Also α. 7
scats,
schate, 7–8
scate, 7–9
skait. β. 7
skeate,
skeete,
skite,
scheet, 8
skeet.
[Orig. in pl. schates, scates, etc., ad. Du. schaats (pl. schaatsen), MDu. schaetse, ad. ONF. escache (mod. écache) stilt: see scatch1. The alteration of sense from ‘stilt’ to ‘skate’ in
Du. has not been clearly traced. In English the
s was from the first apprehended as a plural ending, there being only one example of the
pl. scatses:
cf. however the
Sc. verb
sketch,
skeetch. The spelling
skait was not uncommon in the earlier part of the 19th
cent.]
1. a. A device consisting of a steel blade mounted in a wooden sole, and fixed to the boot by means of a screw and straps, used for the purpose of gliding over ice; in later use a similar device made entirely of steel and clamped, strapped, or otherwise attached to the boot. Also
= roller-skate n. Chiefly used in
pl. The blades are of varying length and curved or rounded at the toe.
| α [1648 Hexham ii, Rijdt-schoenen, Riding shoes upon yce, called in Holland Schates.] 1684 Ballads Gt. Frost (Percy Soc.) 11 The Rotterdam Dutchman with fleet-cutting scates. 1688 W. Carr Rem. Govt. United Prov. 113 The nimble Duchmen on their Scatses. 1701 C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 60 Upon the Ice its admirable to see Men and Women as it were flying upon their Skates from place to place. 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 31 Jan., Rosamond's Pond full of the rabble sliding, and with Skates, if you know what those are. 1777 Watson Philip II (1793) II. xii. 72 The Hollanders transport themselves..over the ice, with scates. 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life iii. i, Learning to cut the outside edge, on skaits that have no edge to cut with. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 522/2 After seeing that the strap is properly crossed,..buckle it sufficiently tight to fasten the skate on securely. 1876 J. A. Harwood Rinks & Rollers iii. 39 The skates used had four wheels of iron placed in one line from the foot to the heel. 1892 ‘F. Anstey’ Voces Pop. Ser. ii. 121 Several persons are having their skates put on. 1925 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catal. 751 Children's Extension Skates With Steel Self Contained Ball Bearing Rolls. 1959 Ice & Roller Skating 20 Wooden wheels are essential for rink skating and the skate should be screwed onto the boot by an expert. 1975 Man. Artistic Roller Skating 24 The change-of-edge..should be as short as possible, not materially longer than the length of the skate. |
| β 1662 Pepys Diary 1 Dec., Over the Parke, (where I first in my life..did see people sliding with their skeates, which is a very pretty art). 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xx. (Roxb.) 239/2 A Dutch Skite, this is a kind of wooden paten. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 24 Jan. 1684, Sleds, sliding with skeetes, a bull-baiting. |
| fig. 1719 E. Baynard Health (1740) 20 Life on smooth skeets slides swiftly by. |
(
b) In slang (
orig. Mil.)
phr. to get (or put) one's skates on, to hurry up (see also
quot. 1925).
| 1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Dec. 113 Get your skates on, hurry up. 1919 War Slang in Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 To evade duty or get clear, you ‘put your skates on’. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 260 Skates, to put on, to hurry up. Also to evade duty. To desert. 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xxvi. 263 ‘Jack, guy for your b― life. The Squad are here.’.. Said Jack: ‘I very soon put my skates on.’ 1969 G. Lyall Venus with Pistol ix. 54 It was Carlos telling me to get my skates on and down to the Doelen plenty chop-chop. 1976 W. J. Burley Wycliffe & Schoolgirls i. 33 I'd better be getting my skates on, I'm catching the night train and I haven't done a thing about getting ready. |
b. pl. = ski n. 1.
| 1698 A. Brand Embassy China 57 They make use of Scates, by the help of which they pass over the Snow with great Agility. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 215 They make use of skates, which are made of fir, of near three feet long, and half a foot broad. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 242 There is no difficulty in travelling over them, even without either snow skaits or sledges. 1849 [see 3]. |
c. U.S. A sledge runner.
| 1781 S. Peters Gen. Hist. Connecticut 320 In the winter, the sleigh is used; a vehicle..carrying six persons in its box, which hangs on four posts standing on two steel sliders, or large scates. 1907 St. Nicholas July 781/1 You make a framework of timbers..and stick a skate or runner at each corner. |
d. transf. A device with a set of rollers or wheels on which something moves; a device which can be placed under a heavy object to facilitate its movement.
| 1905 Engineering Rev. XIII. 103/1 The Dolter system..consists of a skate suspended from the under part of the car; this makes contact with a small iron block embedded in the road. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 774/2 Skate, sidetracking. (1) A device to move an aeroplane sideways on the ground, for manoeuvring in confined spaces, as when packing into sheds. (2) A shoe for slipping beneath the wheels for handling an aeroplane on soft snow. 1961 Daily Tel. 4 Oct. 15/2 An engineering firm has offered to supply skates for the Arch. Ibid., The skates, or tracked skids, are made of steel plates. 1972 Police Rev. 10 Nov. 1477/1 It appears that the ‘skates’ shown in..last week's Police Review (page 1405) would combat the above criticisms. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 18 Nov. 17/7 Terry Maine..invented a ‘skate’ to go under the damaged wheel—which enables the aircraft to be moved quickly into a hanger for repairs. |
e. N. Amer. A set of tackle for halibut-fishing, etc., used chiefly on the Pacific Coast of N.
Amer.| 1882 J. W. Collins in Fishermen's Own Book 96 We set twenty skates of trawl—the whole string. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. iii. 75 ‘How many skates you reckon we'll need?’ ‘'Baout three. Hurry!’ ‘There's three-hundred fathom to each tub,’ Dan explained. 1960 M. Sharcott Place of Many Winds vii. 127 Either the night before or in the morning before the skates of gear are set they must be baited. Ibid. 129 Trolling fishermen often curse the skates of halibut gear. 1972 F. Ford Atush Inlet ix. 85 The marker, then the anchor, then two-three hundred yards of halibut line with a baited hook every ten feet, then another anchor and a marker. That's a skate. |
2. [from the
vb.] An act or spell of skating; one of a series of turns in figure-skating.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exped. xxvi. (1856) 214 Took a skate this morning, over some lakelets recently frozen over. 1860 All Year Round No. 38. 277 He ceases to complete his skates, he passes from one to the other too rapidly. 1889 Advance (Chicago) 11 Apr. 294 Bound for the smooth sheet of ice..for a skate. |
3. a. Comb., as
skate-grinder,
skate-lender, etc.
| 1849 Longfellow Kavanagh xxviii, In his imagination arose images of the Norwegian Skate-Runners. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Skate-maker, a manufacturer of iron sliding shoes. 1860 C. A. Collins Eye-witness vi. 84 What becomes of icemen and skate-lenders in summer? 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2192/2 Skate-grinder, a machine for grinding skates. |
b. attrib., as
skate-blade,
skate-iron;
skate key, a key for tightening roller-skates;
skatepark, a park or rink for skateboarding;
skate-sail, a sail rigged up on a skater's back so that the wind may carry him along.
| 1895 Outing XXVII. 202/1 The *skate-blades are fixed to plates which are screwed fast to heel and sole of the skating-boots. |
| 1838 J. H. Ingraham Burton I. x. 143 It was placed on runners sixteen inches high, shaped like *skate-irons. 1868 B. J. Lossing Hudson 277 Three sled-runners, having skate-irons on their bottoms. |
| 1962 ‘E. McBain’ Like Love xiv. 193 A little girl..was sitting on the steps tightening her skates with a *skate key. 1977 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring-Summer 509/1 Clamp-on sidewalk skates... Skate key included. |
| 1976 N.Y. Times Mag. 12 Sept. 85/2 A $60,000 15 thousand-square-feet-of-concrete *skatepark. 1977 Sunday Times 27 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 27/4 Use purpose-built skate-parks as they have a variety of bowls and slaloms which allow you freedom to develop tricks away from other skaters and spectators. |
| 1882 Standard 1 Dec. 5/4 Skimming over the frozen lakes by the aid of the Danish *skate-sail. |
▪ III. skate, n.3 slang (chiefly
U.S.).
(
skeɪt)
[Origin uncertain.] 1. A poor, worn-out, decrepit horse.
| 1894 Kipling in Cent. Mag. Dec. 295/2 This yaller⁓backed skate comes to our pastur'. 1923 E. Hemingway Three Stories 29 They'd kill that bunch of skates for their hides and hoofs up at Paris. 1935 H. Davis Honey in Horn vi. 61 Joel Hardcastle's horses were underfed, badly shod, and skates. 1978 E. Tidyman Table Stakes i. iv. 68 The man was a gambler... A pony player. Used to bet thousands on the worst-looking skates you've ever seen. |
2. a. A mean or contemptible person. Esp. in
cheap skate (also
attrib. or as adj.).
| 1896 Cheap skate [see horse n. 18]. 1898 F. P. Dunne Mr. Dooley in Peace & War 198 If th' skate fr'm Oklahoma is allowed f'r to belch anny in this here assimblage, th' diligates fr'm th' imperyal Territ'ry iv New Mexico'll lave th' hall. 1904 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Eri xxi. 383 Offered me a hundred dollars a week, the skate! 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xix. 399 ‘It would suit them very well,’ thought Harriet, ‘the cheap skates!’ 1947 Partisan Rev. XIV. 259 Samuel lost his temper and told the boss what he thought of him, what a cheap skate he was. 1958 New Statesman 4 Oct. 444/2 A cheapskate doctor he employed to save a few dollars gave his wife, Mary, morphine to ease her pains after delivering her youngest son, Edmund, and she has become an addict. 1960 H. Pinter Caretaker i. 9 Aston: I saw him have a go at you. Davies:..The filthy skate, an old man like me. 1973 J. Porter It's Murder with Dover xii. 119 They were hardened women of the world and knew a cheap skate when they saw one. |
b. labour skate (
U.S.), a trade-union official.
| 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 456/2 Labor-skate, an official of a labor union. 1978 Washington Post 27 Jan. d7/3 Most of the crowd consisted of labor skates, members of Jewish groups, and friends of Jackson and Moynihan. |
▪ IV. skate, v. (
skeɪt)
Also 7–8
scate, 9
skait; 8
skeit,
skete.
[f. skate n.2] 1. a. intr. To glide over ice upon skates; to use skates as a means of exercise or pastime. Also with
over (
cf. row v.
1 1 f).
| 1696 S. Sewall Diary 30 Nov., Many Scholars go in the Afternoon to Scate on Fresh-pond. 1730 Thomson Winter 632 With him who slides; Or sketing sweeps, swift as the winds, along. 1768 Wilkes Corr. (1805) III. 223, I scate almost every day; and amuse myself much with so noble an exercise. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. ii. 38 Because I cannot shoot and skait and swim? 1842 Hawthorne in Longfellow's Life (1891) I. 450, I get up at sunrise to skate. 1890 Field 11 Jan. 65/3 One Mile Race. G. C. Tebbutt.. skated over.., Verspijk being absent. |
b. transf. To slide or glide along; to move lightly and rapidly.
| 1775 C. & F. Davy tr. Bourrit's Journ. Glaciers (1776) 221 Driving his heels more or less into the snow, he skaited, if I may so call it, to the bottom. 1782 H. Cowley Bold Stroke for Husband v. ii, Those new shoes! they have made me skate all day, like a Dutchman on a canal. 1847 Emerson Poems Wks. (Bohn) I. 425 The train along the railroad skates. 1891 Nature 10 Sept. 457/1 Other insects merely dive into the water..or skate upon the surface. |
c. fig., esp in
phr. (
a)
to skate over (or on) thin ice; (
b)
to skate over or
skate round (a fact, subject, etc.), to pass by or over hurriedly, to avoid mentioning.
| 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Experience Wks. (Bohn) I. 179 We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them. 1897 Church Times 17 Sept. 283 Cardinal Vaughan is an adept at skating over thin ice. In his address..there were many points which every one knows were weak, but he glided over them with surprising deftness. 1897 A. Beardsley Let. 15 Sept. (1970) 368, I hardly like to think now of all the thin ice I must have skated over since March 31st—a miraculous patinage! 1926 P. Guedalla Palmerston V. iii. 356 Even Punch regaled its readers with a princely figure of slightly sinister aspect skating perilously on the thin ice of foreign affairs. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 30 Mar. 243/1 The Premier did not do more than skate round the problem. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. v. 98 He..could talk at length of..how this or that Jesuit or Dominican had skated on thin ice or sailed near the wind in his Lenten discourses. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway v. 123 We both skated over the implications of that. 1957 Economist 7 Dec. 860/1 The reason for the outbreak of the second Balkan war in 1913..is gracefully skated over. 1965 New Statesman 16 Apr. 622/3 Mr Brown's latest paper on prices and incomes skates carefully around this point. 1971 Where Sept. 266/1 It also skates over the fact that it is an offence to be in possession of the drugs listed if they have not been legally prescribed. 1978 H. Carpenter Inklings iv. i. 216 He skated on thin ice in the opening chapter of The Problem of Pain, where he offered his readers a ‘proof’ of the existence of God which..tackled this immense issue ‘on the scale of a pamphlet in a church porch’. 1979 C. Moule in M. Goulder Incarnation & Myth v. 135 It has been claimed that Mark's christology is authoritative and as much part of the New Testament as Paul's... But this is to skate over the question, What was Mark's intention? |
d. colloq. To depart speedily.
| 1915 in C. Johnson Battleground Adventures liv. 418 Holt met the ol' man comin' from the barn as hard as he could run. Oh! he was comin' from thar skatin'. c 1926 ‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 31 Well, I'm skating. Coming, ‘Slasher’? 1937 G. Frankau More of Us v. 63 When one's happy—well, time simply flies. Me for the hay. Let's get our bill, and skate. |
e. U.S. slang. (See
quots.)
| 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 17/1 Skate, to get away with something. 1977 Amer. Speech 1975 L. 66 Skate vi, shirk duties. ‘The new pledges are really skating this week.’ 1979 Observer 18 Mar. (Colour Suppl.) 56 I'm not a woman's libber but I don't want to skate (shirk). |
2. trans. a. To knock (one)
down in skating; to contest (a match), to compete with (some one), by skating.
| 1788 F. Burney Diary April, To skate a man down is a very favourite diversion among a certain race of wags. 1847 Mrs. Gore Castles in Air xxxiii, A match was skated upon the lake. 1890 Field 1 Feb. 143/2 Whether a race is skated or not. |
b. To cause (something) to slide or glide over a smooth surface.
| 1883 Daily News 29 Sept. 3/3 They..turn up on deck early in the morning to ‘skate the chairs’. |
c. To slide or glide over. Also
fig.| 1900 [see fenner]. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, you Bastard i. 22 Sneed skated the passing out examination with the highest marks on record. 1971 B. Patten Irrelevant Song 27 Quick as the autumn marigold Skates the borders of whitening grass. |