skate over

British  

verb

1. to cross on or as if on skates

2. to avoid dealing with (a matter) fully

---

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]

---

Example Sentences

Sakamoto has a slim lead heading into Sunday’s free skate over 15-year-old American Isabeau Levito, who scored 71.30 points in her senior Grand Prix debut.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 22, 2022

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

From Washington Post • Dec. 10, 2021

If you win an Oscar, car hops will skate over with your statue, which would have a suction cup.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2021

Even during the characters’ most bitter invectives, the cast’s performances similarly skate over the surface, more ornamental than immersed.

From New York Times • Dec. 30, 2020

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