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skid

[skid]

Origin

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noun

a plank, bar, log, or the like, especially one of a pair, on which something heavy may be slid or rolled along.

one of a number of such logs or timbers forming a skidway.

a low mobile platform on which goods are placed for ease in handling, moving, etc. Compare stillage.

a plank, log, low platform, etc., on or by which a load is supported.

Nautical.

any of a number of parallel beams or timbers fixed in place as a raised support for boats, spars, etc.

any of a number of timbers on which a heavy object is placed to be shoved along on rollers or slid.

an arrangement of planks serving as a runway for cargo.

an arrangement of planks serving as a fender to protect the side of a vessel during transfer of cargo.

sidewise motion of a vessel; leeway.

EXPAND

a shoe or some other choke or drag for preventing the wheel of a vehicle from rotating, as when descending a hill.

a runner on the under part of some airplanes, enabling the aircraft to slide along the ground when landing.

an unexpected or uncontrollable sliding on a smooth surface by something not rotating, especially an oblique or wavering veering by a vehicle or its tires: The bus went into a skid on the icy road.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

to place on or slide along a skid.

10.

to check the motion of with a skid: She skidded her skates to a stop.

11.

to cause to go into a skid: to skid the car into a turn.

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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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verb (used without object)

12.

to slide along without rotating, as a wheel to which a brake has been applied.

13.

to slip or slide sideways, as an automobile in turning a corner rapidly.

14.

to slide forward under the force of momentum after forward motion has been braked, as a vehicle.

15.

(of an airplane when not banked sufficiently) to slide sideways, away from the center of the curve described in turning. Compare slip¹ (def. 15).

Idioms

16.

on the skids, Slang. in the process of decline or deterioration: His career is on the skids.

17.

put the skids under, Informal. to bring about the downfall of; cause to fail: Lack of money put the skids under our plans.

18.

the skids, Informal. the downward path to ruin, poverty, or depravity: After losing his job he began to hit the skids.

Origin:
1600–10; 1925–30 for def. 18; apparently < Old Norse skith (noun), cognate with Old English scīd thin slip of wood; see ski

Related forms

skid·ding·ly, adverb

an·ti·skid·ding, adjective

Synonyms
9, 12. slip. 13. slither.

Link To skid

Collins

World English Dictionary

skid (skɪd)

—vb , skids, skidding, skidded
1.	to cause (a vehicle) to slide sideways or (of a vehicle) to slide sideways while in motion, esp out of control
2.	(intr) to slide without revolving, as the wheel of a moving vehicle after sudden braking
3.	(US), (Canadian) (tr) to put or haul on a skid, esp along a special track
4.	to cause (an aircraft) to slide sideways away from the centre of a turn when insufficiently banked or (of an aircraft) to slide in this manner

—n
5.	an instance of sliding, esp sideways
6.	chiefly (US), (Canadian) one of the logs forming a skidway
7.	a support on which heavy objects may be stored and moved short distances by sliding
8.	a shoe or drag used to apply pressure to the metal rim of a wheel to act as a brake
9.	on the skids in decline or about to fail

[C17: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare ski]

'skiddy

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

skid

c.1600, "beam or plank on which something rests," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to O.N. skið "stick of wood" (see ski). A skid as something used to facilitate downhill motion (cf. skid row) led to fig. phrases such as hit the skids "go into rapid decline" (1920).

EXPAND

skid

1674, "apply a skid to (a wheel, to keep it from turning)," from skid (n.). Meaning "slide along" first recorded 1838; extended sense of "slip sideways" (on a wet road, etc.) first recorded 1884 (the noun in this sense is attested from 1907). The original notion is of a block

of wood for stopping a wheel; the modern senses are from the notion of a wheel slipping when blocked from revolving.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

skid

In addition to the idiom beginning with skid, also see on the skids; put the skids on; put the skids under.

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