A child was killed when one of its 737s skidded off a runway in Chicago in icy conditions and struck a car.
Last December a Continental 737 taking off from Denver aborted at the last second and, in icy conditions, skidded into a ravine.
The automobile reached the crest of the hill, skidded and started toward the ditch.
I went racing, but a half mile north I skidded into the ditch.
It toppled over, skidded past him under its own momentum, and lay there kicking spasmodically.
He skidded and fell, and had to run at a slower pace to keep his footing.
Mr. Dixon grasped the door-handle as Bill skidded them into a cross road with the expertness of a racing driver.
Shattered rock was thick on the floor, and they skidded and tumbled over it.
As we came in, we found we had a belly landing on our hands, so we skidded her in.
He skidded to a halt and blazed away at one of the oil drums.
c.1600, "beam or plank on which something rests," especially on which something heavy can be rolled from place to place (1782), of uncertain origin, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse skið "stick of wood" (see ski (n.)). As "a sliding along" from 1890; specifically of motor vehicles from 1903. Skid-mark is from 1914.
In the timber regions of the American West, skids laid down one after another to form a road were "a poor thing for pleasure walks, but admirably adapted for hauling logs on the ground with a minimum of friction" ["Out West" magazine, October 1903]. A skid as something used to facilitate downhill motion led to figurative phrases such as hit the skids "go into rapid decline" (1909), and cf. skid row.
1670s, "apply a skid to (a wheel, to keep it from turning)," from skid (n.). Meaning "slide along" first recorded 1838; extended sense of "slip sideways" (on a wet road, etc.) first recorded 1884. The original notion is of a block of wood for stopping a wheel; the modern senses are from the notion of a wheel slipping when blocked from revolving.
noun
skell (1980s+ New York City police)
