a plank, bar, log, or the like, especially one of a pair, on which something heavy may be slid or rolled along.
one of a number of such logs or timbers forming a skidway.
a low mobile platform on which goods are placed for ease in handling, moving, etc.Compare stillage.
a plank, log, low platform, etc., on or by which a load is supported.
Nautical.
any of a number of parallel beams or timbers fixed in place as a raised support for boats, spars, etc.
any of a number of timbers on which a heavy object is placed to be shoved along on rollers or slid.
an arrangement of planks serving as a runway for cargo.
an arrangement of planks serving as a fender to protect the side of a vessel during transfer of cargo.
sidewise motion of a vessel; leeway.
a shoe or some other choke or drag for preventing the wheel of a vehicle from rotating, as when descending a hill.
a runner on the under part of some airplanes, enabling the aircraft to slide along the ground when landing.
an unexpected or uncontrollable sliding on a smooth surface by something not rotating, especially an oblique or wavering veering by a vehicle or its tires: The bus went into a skid on the icy road.
verb (used with object),skid·ded,skid·ding.
to place on or slide along a skid.
to check the motion of with a skid: She skidded her skates to a stop.
to cause to go into a skid: to skid the car into a turn.
verb (used without object),skid·ded,skid·ding.
to slide along without rotating, as a wheel to which a brake has been applied.
to slip or slide sideways, as an automobile in turning a corner rapidly.
to slide forward under the force of momentum after forward motion has been braked, as a vehicle.
(of an airplane when not banked sufficiently) to slide sideways, away from the center of the curve described in turning.Compare slip1(def 15).
Idioms
on the skids, Slang. in the process of decline or deterioration: His career is on the skids.
put the skids under, Informal. to bring about the downfall of; cause to fail: Lack of money put the skids under our plans.
the skids, Informal. the downward path to ruin, poverty, or depravity: After losing his job he began to hit the skids.
Origin of skid
1600–10;1925–30for def 18; apparently < Old Norseskith (noun), cognate with Old Englishscīd thin slip of wood; see ski
Related formsskid·ding·ly, adverban·ti·skid·ding, adjective
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.
skid
v.
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.
In the process of decline or ruin, as in If she quit now, her career would be on the skids. The skids here are runners such as those on a sled, enabling one to go downhill quickly. [c. 1920]
