skate

/skeɪt/

skate 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. Also the ellipsis of ice skate.

Image: Vincent Baas, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

skate (plural skates)

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.
- 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.1847, editorial staff, “Swimming Skate”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68
The act of skateboarding
- There's time for a quick skate before dinner.
The act of roller skating or ice skating
- The boys had a skate every morning when the lake was frozen.
(Philippines, chiefly Bicol) A makeshift handcar.

Verb

skate (third-person singular simple present skates, present participle skating, simple past and past participle skated)

To move along a surface (ice or ground) using skates.
To skateboard.
To use the skating technique.
(slang) To get away with something; to be acquitted of a crime for which one is manifestly guilty.
To move smoothly and easily.
- 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.March 26 2023, David Hytner, “Kane and Bukayo Saka combine against Ukraine for England’s perfect Euros start”, in The Guardian

Adjective

skate (not comparable)

Pertaining to the technique of skating.

Noun (2)

skate (plural skates or skate)

A fish of the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea (rays) which inhabit most seas. Skates generally have small heads with protruding muzzles, and wide fins attached to a flat body.
- 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.1952, Nikos Kazantzakis, chapter 1, in Carl Wildman, transl., Zorba the Greek, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, translation of Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά [Víos kai politeía tou Aléxi...
- 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.1995 December 26, William J. Broad, “Creatures of the Deep Find Their Way to the Table”, in The New York Times

Noun (3)

skate (plural skates)

A worn-out horse, a nag, a jade.

Proper noun capitalized: Skate

Skate

(slang) The ship of characters James "Sawyer" Ford and Kate Austen from the television series Lost.
- But 'Skate' fans ended the series quite disappointed in him, as it seems that even after leaving with Kate, they couldn't be together.2010, Robert Dougherty, Lost: It Only Ends Once: An Unofficial Last Look, page 294
- (I've never subscribed to either of the Kate ships on the show, but even I was almost a Skate convert in that moment.)2010, Nikki Stafford, Finding Lost, Season Six, unnumbered page

Also used as

skate is also the ellipsis of ice skate.

skate is also the ellipsis of roller skate.

skate is also the alternative form of skite.

skate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

skate in Hindi

ice skate or roller skate: स्केट skeṭ

skate in Tamil

ஸ்கேட், ஸ்கேட் செய்யுங்கள், ஸ்கேட்டிங் செய்ய

skate in Urdu

ice skate or roller skate: سْکیٹ skeṭ

More languagesFewer languages

skate in Bengali: স্কেইট skeiṭ
skate in Telugu: స్కేట్, స్కేట్ చేయండి, స్కేటింగ్ చేయడానికి
skate in Malayalam: തിരണ്ടി tiraṇṭi
skate in Kannada: ಸ್ಕೇಟ್, ಸ್ಕೇಟ್ ಮಾಡಿ, ಸ್ಕೇಟಿಂಗ್ ಮಾಡಲು
skate in Punjabi: ਸਕੇਟ, ਸਕੇਟ ਕਰੋ, ਸਕੇਟਿੰਗ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
skate in Gujarati: સ્કેટ, સ્કેટ કરો, સ્કેટિંગ કરો
skate in Odia: ସ୍କେଟ୍, ସ୍କେଟ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, ସ୍କେଟ୍ କରିବା
skate in Nepali: स्केट, स्केट गर्न, स्केटिङ गर्न
skate in Tagalog: patin, magpatin
skate in Arabic: تَزَلُّج tazalluj, حِذَاء تَزَلُّج ḥiḏāʔ tazalluj, شِفْنِين šifnīn
skate in Malay: kasut luncur
skate in Indonesian: sepatu luncur
skate in Persian: اسکیت بورد سواری, اسکیت کردن eskêt kardan
skate in Thai: รองเท้าสเกต rɔɔng-táao-sà-gét, กระเบน grà-been
skate in Vietnamese: giày trượt băng, giày trượt có bánh, cá đuối
skate in Myanmar: လိပ်ကျောက် lipkyauk

Examples of skate in a sentence

If I don't get my skates on now I'm going to be late!
I don't know how she skated on those charges, but the jury said not guilty.
Jeff finds this stuff easy, so he just skates by at work.

All 40 example sentences with skate

Forms of skate

Noun
plural	skates
plural	skate
Verb
third-person singular present	skates
present participle	skating
past participle	skated
past	skated

Past tense of skate: skated

Plural of skate: skates

Origin of skate

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”).

From Middle English skat, scate (also schat), from Old Norse skata (“skate”). Cognate with Icelandic skata (“skate, ray”), Norwegian skate (“skate”).

Origin uncertain, but probably related to skite.

Words formed from skate

Phrases with skate

Words that rhyme with skate

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about skate

What does skate mean?: Skate means 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.
What is skate in Hindi?: Skate in Hindi is स्केट (skeṭ). See Skate meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is skate?: Skate can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce skate?: Skate is pronounced /skeɪt/.
What is the plural of skate?: The plural of skate is skates.

Words near skate in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-skate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “skate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.