Skid Meaning
/ˈskɪd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn out-of-control sliding motion as would result from applying the brakes too hard in a car or other vehicle.
nounA 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.
Sentence Examples
To some extent, you can control the car in a skid.
My car went into a skid on the bend.
causing the front wheels to skid.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Due to the black ice, the car suddenly began to ____ sideways across the highway.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The car started to ____ on the icy road, but the driver managed to regain control.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"His head was away up in the shadows of lifeboats that stood on skids above the deck."
— 1897, Joseph Conrad, Niger of the Narcissus:
"If the boat had been further out, we could not get to work at the wheel without beaching her further up; or either dry docking her or putting her on skids."
— 1882, New York Court of Appeals:
"The horses stopped to breathe again, and the guard got down to skid the wheel for the descent, and open the coach-door to let the passengers in"
— 1859, Charles Dickens, “The Mail”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book I (Recalled to Life), page 4:
"[…] it is something that differentiates an elite hacker from skids (script kiddies)."
— 2022, Anas Zakir, Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics, page 105:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Due to the black ice, the car suddenly began to ____ sideways across the highway.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The car started to ____ on the icy road, but the driver managed to regain control.