skitter
Americanverb (used without object)
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to go, run, or glide lightly or rapidly.
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to skim along a surface.
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Angling. to draw a lure or a baited hook over the water with a skipping motion.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to move or run rapidly or lightly; scamper
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to skim or cause to skim lightly and rapidly, as across the surface of water
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(intr) angling to draw a bait lightly over the surface of water
Etymology
Origin of skitter
Explanation
When someone or something moves in a rapid, light way, you can say they skitter. Your cat might spend hours fascinated by the bugs that skitter across your window. Little kids will usually skitter onto a playground, moving much more slowly when it's time to leave. And while older cats spend much of the day sleeping lazily, playful kittens will skitter crazily around the house if you give them a crumpled ball of paper to play with. Skitter comes from an old verb, skite, "to dart or run quickly," probably from a Scandinavian root.
Vocabulary lists containing skitter
Of Mice and Men
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myPerspectives 6.2
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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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.
A little fuel and some high-frequency sparking makes the robot skitter across the ground.
From Science Daily • Sep. 19, 2023
That helped jar the puck loose to skitter over to Kotkaniemi for the near-post putaway at 3:58.
From Washington Times • May 6, 2023
Arctic foxes skitter with the herky-jerky motion of silent movies.
From New York Times • May 19, 2022
Moreover, these volcanic leftovers rise from the big, empty, underappreciated middle of California, where farms, ranches and vineyards blanket the valleys and hills, where tumbleweeds skitter and scraggly old oaks stand beside sagging barns.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2022
The second Mom turns on the light, a dozen roaches skitter and scurry toward the crack in the wall.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
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.
