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skid

Pronunciation: /ˈskɪd/

The English word “skid” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An out-of-control sliding motion as would result from applying the brakes too hard in a car or other vehicle.
  2. A shoe or clog, as of iron, attached to a chain, and placed under the wheel of a wagon to prevent its turning when descending a steep hill.
  3. A hook attached to a chain, used for the same purpose.
  4. A runner of a sled.
  5. A ski-shaped runner or supporting surface as found on a helicopter or other aircraft in place of wheels.
  6. A basic platform for the storage and transport of goods, machinery or equipment, later developed into the pallet.
  7. A pallet.
  8. One of a pair of horizontal rails or timbers for supporting anything, such as a boat or barrel.
  9. A banked sideslip where the aircraft's nose is yawed towards the low wing, often due to excessive rudder input.
  10. A losing streak.
  11. A stepchild.
  12. A script kiddie.
  13. A sovereign (old coin).

verb

  1. (of a wheel, sled runner, or vehicle tracks) To slide along the ground, without the rotary motion that wheels or tracks would normally have.
  2. To slide in an uncontrolled manner as in a car with the brakes applied too hard, the wheels sliding with limited spinning.
  3. To operate an aircraft in a banked sideslip with the nose yawed towards the low wing.
  4. To protect or support with a skid or skids.
  5. To cause to move on skids.
  6. To check or halt (wagon wheels, etc.) with a skid.
  7. To steal or copy, especially computer code.

Etymology

From Middle English *skid, from Old Norse skíð (“a billet of wood, a beam or plank on which something rests”), from Proto-Germanic *skīdą (“log, clapboard”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey-t-, *skey- (“to split, divide, separate”). Cognate with English shide, from Middle English schyd, schyde, schide (“plank, beam”), German Scheit (“piece of wood, log”). Doublet of ski.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.