skate
1 Americannoun
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the blade of an ice skate.
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a skid on a lifeboat to facilitate launching from a listing ship.
verb (used without object)
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to glide or propel oneself over ice, the ground, etc., on skates.
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to glide or slide smoothly along.
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Slang. to shirk one's duty; loaf.
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(of the tone arm on a record player) to swing toward the spindle while a record is playing.
verb (used with object)
idioms
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get / put one's skates on, to make haste.
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skate on thin ice, to be or place oneself in a risky or delicate situation.
Taking a public stand on the question would be skating on thin ice.
noun
plural
skate,plural
skatesnoun
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the steel blade or runner of an ice skate
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such a blade fitted with straps for fastening to a shoe
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a current collector on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail Compare bow collector
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to hurry
verb
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to glide swiftly on skates
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to slide smoothly over a surface
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to place oneself in a dangerous or delicate situation
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of skate1
First recorded in 1640–50; originally plural scates, from Dutch schaats (singular) “skate,” Middle Dutch schaetse “stilt” (compare Medieval Latin scatia ), of unknown origin
Origin of skate2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English scate, from Old Norse skata
Origin of skate3
First recorded in 1890–95; perhaps special use of skate 2
Explanation
Skates are things you wear on your feet so you can roll around a roller rink or glide across an icy pond. Roller skates have wheels on the bottom, and ice skates have metal blades. When you lace up your skates and start moving over the ice, you skate. You also skate when you head down the street to your friend's house on your skates—or on your skateboard. A totally different kind of skate is the sea creature that looks like a sting ray, with a wide, flat body. The sporting equipment kind of skate comes from a Germanic root meaning "thing that shakes or moves fast."
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 fast start followed two games in which the plodding Golden Knights watched the Ducks skate rings around them.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
Johnson was playing for the Nottingham Panthers against Sheffield Steelers in October 2023 when he was hit in the neck by the skate of opposing player Matt Petgrave.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026
In New York City or Chicago or San Diego, there is nothing remarkable about seeing young men wearing Carhartt work jackets, Stüssy skate shorts or a T-shirt from Supreme with its coveted, Barbara Kruger-esque logo.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
His aim, he added, had simply been to get through the free skate “in one piece.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2026
I came up sputtering, and realized I’d stepped on a skate, that diamond-shaped fish with a stinger tail.
From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor
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.
