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Swim vs Skim - What's the difference?

swim | skim |

In intransitive terms the difference between swim and skim

is that swim is to be overflowed or drenched while skim is to ricochet.

In transitive terms the difference between swim and skim

is that swim is to immerse in water to make the lighter parts float while skim is to clear a liquid from (scum or substance floating or lying on it), especially the cream that floats on top of fresh milk.

As verbs the difference between swim and skim

is that swim is to float while skim is to pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.

As a noun swim

is an act or instance of swimming.

As an initialism SWIM

is {{cx|internet|lang=en}} Someone who isn't me; someone who isn't myself.

As an adjective skim is

having lowered fat content.

swim

English

Verb

  • (archaic) To float.
  • * 2 Kings VI:6 (KJV)
  • And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim .
  • *Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
  • Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! The storm is up and all is on the hazard.
  • To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.}}
  • To traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to utilize a specific swimming stroke; or, to compete in a specific swimming event.
  • ''For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.
    I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.
  • * Dryden
  • Sometimes he thought to swim the stormy main.
  • (uncommon) To cause to swim.
  • to swim a horse across a river
    Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.
  • To be overflowed or drenched.
  • * Psalm VI:6 (KJV)
  • I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
  • * Thomson
  • Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim .
  • To immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.
  • to swim wheat in order to select seed

    Derived terms

    * sink or swim * swim like a fish * swimmer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act or instance of swimming.
  • I'm going for a swim .
  • The sound, or air bladder, of a fish.
  • (UK) A part of a stream much frequented by fish.
  • Derived terms

    * in the swim

    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