skate over

British  

verb

1. to cross on or as if on skates

2. to avoid dealing with (a matter) fully

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skate over Idioms  

1. Treat superficially or hurriedly, avoid mentioning, as in He concentrated on the main points of the contract and skated over the details. This idiom transfers the gliding motion of skating to dealing with something in a cursory way. [Mid-1900s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

skate over

The Kraken didn’t skate over the weekend following a 3-1 win at the Ducks.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2024

“You’ve got to sort of glide over it. You have to skate over it.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2021

My girls have always wanted me to do this but I’ve always been too scared someone will skate over my fingers!

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2020

Even a “Foret Perdue” on the way back through Trois-Rivières where you can skate over Zambonied ice paths through miles of frosted forest.

From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2018

It ‘There are literary-critical and theological questions over whether it occurs to Satan that there’s the possibility of repentance, but we’ll skate over those here. “

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith