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▪ I. skimmer, n.|ˈskɪmə(r)|
Forms: α. 4 skemour, 5 skemere. β. 4–5 skymour(e, 5 skymere, 5–6 skymer, 7 skimer. γ. 4 skymmoure, 6 skymber, 7 skymmer; 5– skimmer (8 schimmer).
[In older senses ad. OF. escumoir and escumeur (esquemeur): see scummer n. In later use also f. skim v. + -er1.]
1. a. A shallow utensil, usually perforated, employed in skimming liquids; also, any utensil or implement by means of which skimming or some analogous process is performed.
α1392Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 153, j skemour, j ladell. Ibid. 154, ij skemours de laton emptis, iij s. 14..Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 613 Spumatorium, a skemere. c1440Douce MS. 55, fol. 24 b, Bete on the clothe with a skemere or a ladell to make it sadde and flatte.
βc1430Two Cookery-bks. 17 Gader it to-gederys with a ladelle or a Skymoure. 1459Paston Lett. I. 490, ij. ladels and ij. skymers of brasse. 1542in Harrison Ann. Old Manor House (1893) 211, ij brase ladyls and ij skymers of laten. 1607Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. 6 Brasen skimers v. 1686in Essex Rev. (1906) XV. 172 Two pestls, one brass skimer.
γ1481–90Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 66 Item, a skimmer, iiij d. a1553Udall Royster D. iv. iv, I with our skimmer will fling him one flappe. 1589[? Lyly] Pappe w. Hatchet C iiij, Giue me my skimmer, Martins mouth hath sod vnskimde these twelue months. 1600Holland Livy xxiii. xix. 487 Great store of nuts..which floated downe the channell unto Casilinum, and with grated skimmers of wicker were taken up. 1658Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 913 Take away the froth that riseth, twice a day, with a wooden skimmer that hath holes in it. 1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 124 You may take off with a Skimmer, the Corn that Swims on the Water. 1750T. R. Blanckley Naval Expos. 153 Skimmers, made with a round Hoop of Iron,..are used by the Scavengers for clearing Chips, etc. which float on the Surface of the Water. 1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 403 Shallow tinned iron or copper ladles, called skimmers. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 345 Some persons judge of the heat proper for pouring, by applying the skimmer to the surface of the metal. 1883‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 76 As soon as this is melted, take out the oysters with a skimmer.
b. (See quot.)
1887Goode Fisheries & Fish. Industr. U.S. 559 As soon as the oysters are opened they are placed in a flat pan with a perforated bottom, called a skimmer, where they are drained of their accompanying liquor.
c. U.S. A clam or scallop, the shell of which may be used for skimming milk, etc. Esp. the black clam, Cyprina islandica
1881E. Ingersoll Oyster Industry 248 Skimmer, the Cyprina islandica, or big beach clam. (South shore of Long Island.) 1891in Cent. Dict. 1949R. J. Sim Pages from Past 65 The big surf clam, or skimmer (Mactra solidissima Chemn.), lies bedded down in great colonies off shore.
d. A device or craft designed to collect oil spilled on water.
1971Petroleum Rev. May 203/2 (caption) The skimmer straddles the boom and the suction box is about to be immersed to suck up the oil floating on the surface of the water. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline li. 516 Heavy duty floating skimmers will be deployed to recover as much oil as is feasible. 1977Times 25 Apr. 1/4 A fleet of skimmers is steaming from Stavanger to suck up the oil and transfer it to waiting tankers.
†2. = scummer n. 2. Obs. rare.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 261 Men of Saxonia..beeþ boþe liȝter and strenger þan oþer skymours of þe see.
3. a. One who skims a liquid. rare.
1611Cotgr., Escumeur,..a scummer, or skimmer of liquor.
b. One who conceals or diverts some of his earnings or takings in order to avoid paying tax on them. U.S. slang. Cf. skim v. 2 d.
1970Wall St. Jrnl. 23 Mar. 13/1 Some skimmers..give themselves away by keeping track of their true earnings. A New York dentist, for instance, devised a dot-dash code for his office records. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vi. 241 The cash was being split, some to be counted for taxes and the rest to go to the skimmers.
4. One who skims in reading.
1751Skelton Deism Rev. viii. (ed. 2) II. 302 There are..different degrees of Skimmers: first, he who goes no farther than the Title-page. 1864Realm 15 June 6 Nor is it quite fair to newspaper readers or skimmers to expect them [etc.] 1907Outlook 9 Nov. 605/1 For the judicious skimmer there is in these handsomely illustrated volumes a rich store of entertainment.
5. Ornith. A bird of the North American genus Rhynchops, esp. the black skimmer (R. nigra).
The name has reference to the manner in which these birds obtain their food, by skimming small fish, etc., from the surface of the water with the lower mandible.
1785Latham Gen. Synop. Birds III. ii. 347 Black Skimmer, Rynchops nigra. 1826Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XIII. 135 The Skimmers are distinguished from all other birds by the very extraordinary form of their beak. 1838Audubon Ornith. IV. 204 The hoarse cries of the Skimmers never ceased more than an hour. 1883Cent. Mag. Sept. 651 The number of birds on Cape Cod is very great, and among them are many rare ones for the North, such as the black skimmer, or shear-water.
6. a. A form of horse-hoe; a shim.
1801Farmer's Mag. Nov. 375 The hand-hoes destroy those that are too near the beans for this skimmer or horse-hoe.
b. U.S. A form of skim-coulter (Cent. Dict. Suppl.).
c. A metal hook for trundling a child's iron hoop. Now chiefly Hist.
1891R. P. Chope Dial. Hartland, Devonshire 70 Skimmer, a hooked iron rod used by children for trundling iron hoops without striking them. 1953L. Daiken Children's Toys iii. 38 In Victorian times the old-fashioned metal hoop was controlled by a ‘skimmer’, the vernacular name for the hook-and-handle apparatus held in the hand. 1961Listener 12 Oct. 549/2 For boys they [sc. hoops] were of iron, driven along and steered by an iron hook we called a skimmer. 1979This England Winter 66/3 The tool used to both drive and check the hoop had a hook at the end of a short length of steel with a wooden handle, and was called the ‘skimmer’.
7. a. One who scours, or passes lightly and quickly over, the sea, land, etc.
1831Fraser's Mag. III. 436 The poor skimmers over sea and land whom our friend so justly denounces. 1863Janet Hamilton Poems & Ess. 75 The cooing dove, the cawing rook, The skimmers of the lake and brook. 1893McCarthy Red Diamonds II. 47 Skipper Borringer.., a persistent skimmer of the seas.
b. Applied to vessels, spec. to a particular type of yacht. Hence also, a hydroplane, hydrofoil, hovercraft, or other vessel that has little or no displacement at speed.
1844Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. Texas II. 235 Thou ‘Skimmer’ of the untamed sea. 1862London Rev. 16 Aug. 139 Only at the yachting stations will the tapering spars and the snowy wings of the skimmers of the seas be found. 1896Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 7/2 The skimmer..is the only type which can be driven at abnormal speeds with a small sail area. 1909J. I. Thornycroft in Engineering 12 Mar. 365/1 Vessels which greatly reduce their displacement when travelling at high speeds are generally called ‘hydro⁓planes’, but this name is not altogether satisfactory, as the surfaces on which they glide are not always planes. To call such vessels ‘gliders’ or ‘skimmers’ has been suggested as more appropriate... The latter word will be used to describe boats which at high speeds are heavier than the water they displace. 1920Yachting Monthly XXIX. 20 Owing to the fact that she was an unballasted skimmer she had an unfortunate habit of capsizing at moorings. 1945J. J. Fahey Pacific War Diary 308 The General, Admiral, Captain and a few other officers left the ship in a skimmer for a picnic. 1967(title) Jane's surface skimmer systems 1967–68. 1971Morning Star 30 Mar. 9/1 Soviet sea-going skimmers type Kometa-M are furnished with log, radio, radar and other navigation safety instruments. 1975Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 22 June 5/1 They are not hovercraft or hydrofoils but ‘skimmers’—ships which can take off from the water and thunder along a few score cm above it, supported on huge airliner-type wings.
c. A hat; a broad-brimmed boater, esp. of straw. Formerly, skimmer hat. slang (chiefly U.S.).
1830J. F. Watson Annals of Philadelphia 176 Other articles of female wear..[include] a ‘skimmer hat’,..of a very small flat crown and big brim, not unlike the present Leghorn flats. 1929Amer. Speech IV. 430 Among the terms which the daily press credits Mr. Dorgan with inventing are:..skimmer (hat). 1939M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 73/3 Skimmer, flat-crowned sailor, usually of straw, having wide, straight brim. Worn and so-called by students at Eton College. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 14 Jan. 12/1 New Yorkers who patronize such places pay several times over the original cost of their skimmers, in tips alone, during the course of a year. 1974P. de Vries Glory of Hummingbird ii. 13 The thoroughly incompatible straw hat... The brightly banded boater, or ‘skimmer’ or ‘katy’.
d. A sheath-like dress that fits closely to the lines of the body. Chiefly U.S.
1964N.Y. Times 9 Dec. 5 Irish linen skimmer with a flirty scalloped hemline! 1968Tel. (Brisbane) 2 Feb. 14/7 Cotton crepe skimmers..finished with set-in sleeves and a self bow trim. 1974News & Press (Darlington, S. Carolina) 25 Apr. 3 (Advt.), Our large collection includes wraps, skimmers, pleated coat dresses, fit 'n flares [etc.].
8. a. Golf. A particular kind of low stroke.
1903Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 4/2 The shot was a sliced skimmer off a wooden club.
b. Cricket, etc. A ball that travels with a low trajectory.
c1868in H. Chadwick Scrapbks. XI. 5/1 An over-throw of Hatfield allowed Wilkins to seize second; he then stole to third, and ran in on Fisler's ‘skimmer’ to left field. 1897K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iii. 119 Strawyard promptly drives it just as expected—a real ‘skimmer’ 6 feet over extra-cover's head. 1908N.Y. Even. Jrnl. 11 June 17/1 Twice Honus dug up slashing skimmers that Mike shot past Leach. 1911P. F. Warner Bk. of Cricket v. 114 Haigh was bowling, and..Palairet batting, when a ‘skimmer’ came towards the pavilion straight for me. 1930A. P. F. Chapman in Lonsdale & Parker Game of Cricket vii. 114 The catches sent him are a varied assortment—‘skiers and skimmers’—but he rarely gets an easy one. 1980Amer. Speech 1976 LI. 294 Tennis slang{ddd}skimmer, ball gliding lightly and rapidly over the net.
9. attrib., as skimmer-cake (see quot. 1863); † skimmer hat: see sense 7 c above; skimmer shell U.S., the shell of a clam or scallop (cf. sense 1 c).
1795J. Woodforde Diary 9 Feb. (1929) IV. 172 Dinner to day, boiled Beef & a Skimmer-Cake. 1863Wise New Forest Gloss., Skimmer-cake, a small pudding made up from the remnants of another, and cooked upon a ‘skimmer’, the dish with which the milk is skimmed. 1880Golden Hours XII. 520/1 Two pretty shells of the kind that children call ‘skimmer shells’. 1889Hardy Wessex Tales 25 Helping himself to a cut piece of skimmer-cake.
Add:[7.] e. Angling. A small bream.
1971K. Seaman Canal Fishing xi. 108 Bob Ivey..says he knows of a stretch of canal..which contains bream of a size that would astonish those anglers who think it holds only ‘skimmers’. Skimmers, which are very small bream, exist in quantity in many canals and are not difficult to catch once they have been located and encouraged to feed. 1987Match Fishing Feb./Mar. 18/3 The best feeding pattern when fishing for skimmers on the float was little and often.
▪ II. skimmer, v.|ˈskɪmə(r)|
[Northern var. of shimmer v. The sk- suggests a Scand. origin, but there is no trace of the form in ON., and mod.Sw. skimra may be from German.]
1. intr. To shimmer, glitter, gleam.
c1440[implied in skimmering vbl. n. below]. 1788W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 353 To Skimmer, to shine, to glitter. 1835New Monthly Mag. XLIII. 68 Weeds..which, now black, now tipped with light, skimmered and danced in the night air. 1845Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 234 It skimmers from the play of light upon those numerous..crystals. 1863C. M. Yonge Chr. Names I. 255 The pale pure electric light that skimmers on the topmast.
2. To flutter, move rapidly.
For other dialect variations of sense, see Eng. Dial. Dict.
1824Hogg Wks. 1865 I. 464 He was bounding over the heads of the maidens, and making his feet skimmer against the ceiling. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia 304 Skimmer, to flutter or frisk about lightly. 1845S. Judd Margaret i. xvii, Some were..skimmering away through the bright air. 1891in Pall Mall G. 28 Sept. 7/3 The hawk darted down, skimmered along the ground a distance, and was then lost in a wood.
Hence ˈskimmering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
c1440York Myst. xvii. 123 Be ony skymeryng [v.r. skemeryng] of the skye When ȝe shulde knawe owthir kyng or knave? a1800Pegge Suppl. Grose, Skimmer, a skimmering light, i.e. glimmering. 1825Jamieson Suppl., Skimmerin, the flickering of the rays of light. 1855[Robinson] Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘A fine skimmering morning,’ a splendid dawn betokening a fine day.
▪ III. † skimmer
obs. Sc. form of scumber v.
a1585Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 780 Leane limmer, steale gimmer! I sall skimmer in thy mouth. |