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Peek vs Skim - What's the difference?

peek | skim |

As verbs the difference between peek and skim

is that peek is to look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep while skim is to pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.

As an acronym PEEK

is polyetheretherketone.

As an adjective skim is

having lowered fat content.

peek

English

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) *, probably a fusion of peep and keek.

Verb

(en verb)
  • To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep.
  • To be only slightly, partially visible, as if peering out from a hiding place.
  • * 2012 , Rachel Kramer Bussel, Going Down: Oral Sex Stories (ISBN 1573447978):
  • A pale strip of white skin peeked out from under his waistband.
  • * 2012 , Michelle Monkou, If I Had You (ISBN 1459223284):
  • Her brown skin peeked through the empty gap in her clothing.
  • (computing) To retrieve (a value) from a memory address.
  • * 2006 , Gary Willoughby, PureBasic: A Beginner's Guide to Computer Programming (page 279)
  • We are peeking the value from the first index's memory location.

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (head)
  • Anagrams

    * * *

    skim

    English

    Verb

    (skimm)
  • To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
  • To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.
  • * Hazlitt
  • Homer describes Mercury as flinging himself from the top of Olympus, and skimming the surface of the ocean.
  • To hasten along with superficial attention.
  • * I. Watts
  • They skim over a science in a very superficial survey.
  • To put on a finishing coat of plaster.
  • to throw an object so it bounces on water (skimming stones )
  • to ricochet
  • to read quickly, skipping some detail
  • I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.
  • to scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface
  • to clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying on it, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface.
  • to skim''' milk; to '''skim broth
  • to clear a liquid from (scum or substance floating or lying on it), especially the cream that floats on top of fresh milk
  • to skim cream

    Derived terms

    * skim through * skim over * skim off * skimmed milk * skimmer * semi-skimmed

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (of milk) Having lowered fat content.
  • Derived terms

    * skim milk