Skid /(skĭd)/

Skid

n.
  1. A 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; a drag; a skidpan; also, by extension, a hook attached to a chain, and used for the same purpose.
  2. A piece of timber used as a support, or to receive pressure. (Naut.)
  3. A runner (one or two) under some flying machines, used for landing. (Aeronautics)
  4. A low movable platform for supporting heavy items to be transported, typically of two layers, and having a space between the layers into which the fork of a fork lift can be inserted; it is used to conveniently transport heavy objects by means of a fork lift; -- a skid without wheels is the same as a pallet.
  5. Declining fortunes; a movement toward defeat or downfall; -- used mostly in the phrase on the skids and hit the skids.
  6. Act of skidding; -- called also side slip.

Skid

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Skidded; p. pr. & vb. n. Skidding

  1. To protect or support with a skid or skids; also, to cause to move on skids.
  2. To check with a skid, as wagon wheels.
  3. To haul (logs) to a skid and load on a skidway. (Forestry)

Skid

v. i.
  1. To slide without rotating; -- said of a wheel held from turning while the vehicle moves onward.
  2. To fail to grip the roadway; specif., to slip sideways on the road; to side-slip; -- said esp. of a cycle or automobile.