skimming
Americannoun
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Usually skimmings. floating matter that is removed from the surface of a liquid.
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Metallurgy. skimmings, dross.
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Slang. the practice of concealing gambling or other profits so as to avoid paying taxes, commissions, etc..
An audit of their cleaning business uncovered several years of skimming.
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the practice of electronically appropriating account numbers or other confidential data for illegal use.
A chip is embedded in the credit card to prevent skimming.
Etymology
Origin of skimming
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English skemmyng; skim, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The shimmering and pellucid choreographic poem presents its central woman as if arriving on a breeze by way of skimming steps on pointe and ultimately exiting as breezily as she arrived.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
The world stone skimming championships have been rocked by a cheating scandal, after several competitors were disqualified for tampering.
From BBC • Sep. 15, 2025
His troubled marriage to Dorothy Binney Putnam, an heiress, did not restrain him from skimming her fortune to defray his expenses.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 11, 2025
Instead of casually wading into the shallow end, skimming the surface with tepid bits of history about Mansfield’s life and career, Hargitay opts for a cannonball.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 2025
Shay was skimming just above the torrent, so low that she lifted a wake every time she banked.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
