Skating on Thin Ice
Skating is gliding on ice or wheels. The idiom about thin ice is one of the most useful warnings English has.
Skating is gliding on ice or on wheels. The idiom does the heavy lifting in English: *skating on thin ice* means taking a risk that could give way at any moment, and *to skate over* something is to pass across it without engaging — the same image of a surface that will not bear weight.
- Gliding on ice. *Figure skating.*
- Gliding on wheels. *Roller skating.*
- Skate over — deal with superficially. *He skated over the details.*
- On thin ice — in a risky position. *You are skating on thin ice.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | skating | Speed skating. |
| Verb | skate | Skate backwards. |
| Person | skater | A figure skater. |
| Compound | skateboard | A wooden skateboard. |
| Related | rink | An ice rink. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Figure skating combines jumps and spins.The discipline.
- The report skates over the cost.Passes lightly across it.
- He knew he was on thin ice.Risky ground.
Skating disciplines
- Figure skating — jumps, spins and footwork, judged
- Speed skating — racing on a long track
- Short track — racing on a smaller oval, in packs
- Ice dance — no jumps, closer to ballroom on ice
- Roller and inline — the wheeled equivalents
From Dutch *schaats*, a skate, borrowed in the seventeenth century when English visitors saw skating in the Netherlands. The final s was mistaken for a plural, which is why English says one skate.
Why is *skate* singular in English?
Because the Dutch *schaats* was heard as a plural and a new singular was invented from it. The same happened to *pea*, from *pease*.
Why is ice slippery?
A thin layer of highly mobile molecules at the surface, together with local melting from pressure and friction, lets the blade glide.