skimming-dish
Definition
- Noun:
- A type of fast, lightweight racing boat: "skimming-dish" is a slang term referring to a boat with a flat bottom, designed for speed and used in racing. The name evokes the image of a dish skimming across the water's surface.
- A fast, light motorboat: In informal usage, "skimming-dish" can also denote any small, swift motorboat, often used for leisure or racing.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- The regatta featured several skimming-dishes, each designed for maximum speed. (The race included many fast, flat-bottomed racing boats.)
- He bought a new skimming-dish for weekend trips on the lake. (He purchased a light, fast motorboat.)
Advanced Usage
- "to skim like a skimming-dish": a figurative phrase meaning to move very quickly and lightly over a surface, as if gliding.
- The dragonfly skimmed like a skimming-dish across the pond. (It moved swiftly and smoothly over the water.)
Variants and Related Words
- Skim (verb): to move lightly and quickly over a surface.
- The boat will skim over the waves. (It will glide rapidly across the water.)
- Dish (noun): a shallow, flat-bottomed container; in this compound, it emphasizes the boat's shape.
- The hull of the skimming-dish is as shallow as a dish. (The boat's bottom is very flat.)
Synonyms
- Hydroplane: a boat designed to rise and skim over water at high speeds.
- Speedboat: a fast motorboat, though not necessarily flat-bottomed.
- Racing boat: any boat built for competitive speed.
Related Idioms
- Skim the surface: to deal with only the most superficial aspects of a topic.
- His report only skimmed the surface of the issue, unlike a skimming-dish that glides over water. (He did not examine the topic in depth.)
Notes on Usage
- The term "skimming-dish" is primarily slang and dated, most commonly found in mid-20th-century contexts. It is rarely used in modern formal or technical language, but may appear in historical accounts of boat racing or in informal descriptions of fast, small watercraft.