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skip1

[skip]
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verb (used without object), skipped, skip·ping.
  1. to move in a light, springy manner by bounding forward with alternate hops on each foot.
  2. to pass from one point, thing, subject, etc., to another, disregarding or omitting what intervenes: He skipped through the book quickly.
  3. to go away hastily and secretly; flee without notice.
  4. Education. to be advanced two or more classes or grades at once.
  5. to ricochet or bounce along a surface: The stone skipped over the lake.
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verb (used with object), skipped, skip·ping.
  1. to jump lightly over: The horse skipped the fence.
  2. to pass over without reading, noting, acting, etc.: He skipped the bad parts.
  3. to miss or omit (one of a repeated series of rhythmic actions): My heart skipped a beat.
  4. to be absent from; avoid attendance at: to skip a school class.
  5. to send (a missile) ricocheting along a surface.
  6. Informal. to leave hastily and secretly or to flee from (a place): They skipped town.
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noun
  1. a skipping movement; a light jump or bounce.
  2. a gait marked by such jumps.
  3. a passing from one point or thing to another, with disregard of what intervenes: a quick skip through Europe.
  4. Music. a melodic interval greater than a second.
  5. a natural depression below the surface of a planed board.
  6. Informal. a person who has absconded in order to avoid paying debts or meeting other financial responsibilities.
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Verb Phrases
  1. skip out on, Informal. to flee or abandon; desert: He skipped out on his wife and two children.
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Origin of skip1

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English skippen, perhaps < Old Norse skopa to run (compare Icelandic skoppa to skip); (noun) late Middle English skyppe, derivative of the v.
Related formsskip·ping·ly, adverb
Can be confusedhop jump skip (see synonym study at jump) (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms

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1. caper, hop. Skip, bound refer to an elastic, springing movement. To skip is to give a series of light, quick hops alternating the feet: to skip about. Bound suggests a series of long, rather vigorous leaps; it is also applied to a springing or leaping type of walking or running rapidly and actively: A dog came bounding up to meet him. 2. skim. 12. leap, spring, caper, hop.

skip2

[skip]
noun
  1. the captain of a curling or bowling team.
  2. Informal. skipper1.
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verb (used with object), skipped, skip·ping.
  1. to serve as skip of (a curling or bowling team).
  2. Informal. skipper1.
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Origin of skip2

First recorded in 1820–30; short for skipper1

skip3

[skip]
noun
  1. Mining. a metal box for carrying ore, hauled vertically or on an incline.
  2. skip car.
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Origin of skip3

First recorded in 1805–15; alteration of skep
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

fly, bound, dance, scamper, skitter, ricochet, leap, skim, scoot, hop, glance, carom, escape, eschew, caper, canter, run, cavort, skedaddle, buck

Examples from the Web for skip

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • But the minute we started to skip out the professor says, "No, you don't!"

    Tom Sawyer Abroad

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

  • I skip it all, the renewed greetings, the hospitality, the noise.

    The First Violin

    Jessie Fothergill

  • Cal'late Lulie forgot that when she told him to skip out that way.

    Galusha the Magnificent

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Sometimes I have half a mind to skip off and do my wooing myself.

    The Christian

    Hall Caine

  • On reaching the top of the brow, she began to skip and run where the road descends by Folieu.

    The Manxman

    Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for skip

skip1

verb skips, skipping or skipped
  1. (when intr, often foll by over, along, into, etc) to spring or move lightly, esp to move by hopping from one foot to the other
  2. (intr) to jump over a skipping-rope
  3. to cause (a stone, etc) to bounce or skim over a surface or (of a stone) to move in this way
  4. to omit (intervening matter), as in passing from one part or subject to anotherhe skipped a chapter of the book
  5. (intr foll by through) informal to read or deal with quickly or superficiallyhe skipped through the accounts before dinner
  6. (tr) informal to miss deliberatelyto skip school
  7. (tr) informal, mainly US and Canadian to leave (a place) in haste or secrecyto skip town
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noun
  1. a skipping movement or gait
  2. the act of passing over or omitting
  3. music, US and Canadian another word for leap (def. 10)
  4. skip it! informal it doesn't matter!
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See also skip off

Word Origin

C13: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Old Norse skopa to take a run, obsolete Swedish skuppa to skip

skip2

noun, verb skips, skipping or skipped
  1. informal short for skipper 1
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noun
  1. the captain of a curling or bowls team
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skip3

noun
  1. a large open container for transporting building materials, etc
  2. a cage used as a lift in mines, etc
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Word Origin

C19: variant of skep

skip4

noun
  1. a college servant, esp of Trinity College, Dublin
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Word Origin

C17: probably shortened from archaic skip-kennel a footman or lackey (from skip 1 + kennel ²)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for skip

v.

c.1300, "to spring lightly," also "to jump over," probably from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse skopa "to take a run," Middle Swedish skuppa "to skip, leap," from Proto-Germanic *skupan (cf. Middle Swedish skuppa, dialectal Swedish skopa "to skip, leap"). Related: Skipped; skipping.

Meaning "omit intervening parts" first recorded late 14c. Meaning "fail to attend" is from 1905. Meaning "to cause to skip or bound" is from 1680s. The custom of skipping rope has been traced to 17c.; it was commonly done by boys as well as girls until late 19c.

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n.2

short for skipper (n.1), 1830, originally in sports jargon (curling).

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n.1

"a spring, a bound," early 15c., from skip (v.). Meaning "a passing over or disregarding" is from 1650s.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with skip

skip

In addition to the idioms beginning with skip

  • skip bail
  • skip it
  • skip out

also see:

  • heart misses (skips) a beat
  • hop, skip, and a jump
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.