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; see 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.
Cleanup teams are skimming and pumping oil from the tributary and deploying absorbent booms and pads to recover oil trapped along the creek bed.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025
When reading this advert, you would be forgiven for skimming over the words "first steps", as a turn of phrase.
From BBC • Nov. 10, 2025
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
Sure, those are private matters, but skimming the surface like this only serves to bolster an image of an actor reformed.
From Salon • Jun. 30, 2025
They drew up alongside the shore, skimming past mottled beaches and fields of grass.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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.
