skate
/skeɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.74 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A runner or blade, usually of steel, with a frame shaped to fit the sole of a shoe, made to be fastened under the foot, and used for gliding on ice.
noun
Ellipsis of roller skate.
noun
The act of skateboarding
noun
The act of roller skating or ice skating
verb
To skateboard.
Example Sentences
- "They open or shut, according as the foot to which the skate is attached moves downwards or upwards and the swimmer advances by the alternate motion of his limbs, as in mounting a stair, keeping the body and head inclined a little forward, as in skating."
- "There's time for a quick skate before dinner."
- "The boys had a skate every morning when the lake was frozen."
- "Addressing a short pass from Henderson, he always felt too smart for Mykola Matviyenko, taking a step to lure him one way; dropping his shoulder and skating in the other direction, further inside."
- "The fishermen crowding in the cafés were also waiting for the end of the storm, when the fish, reassured, would rise to the surface after the bait. Soles, hog fish and skate were returning from their nocturnal expeditions. Day was now breaking."
- "Other deep creatures now being harvested or targeted as seafood include rattails, skates, squid, red crabs, orange roughy, black oreos, smooth oreos, hoki, blue ling, southern blue whiting, sablefish, black scabbard fish and spiny dogfish."
Etymology
Back-formation from Dutch schaats, from Middle Dutch schāetse, from Old Northern French escache (“a stilt, trestle”) (compare French échasse and English scatch), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *skakkjā (“stilt”, literally “thing that moves”), related to *skakan (“to shake, swing”).