Definition and meaning of skid

SkidSkid (skĭd), n. [Icel. skīð a billet of wood. See Shide.] [Written also skeed.]
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. Specifically: (a) pl. (Naut.) Large fenders hung over a vessel's side to protect it in handling a cargo. Totten. (b) One of a pair of timbers or bars, usually arranged so as to form an inclined plane, as form a wagon to a door, along which anything is moved by sliding or rolling. (c) One of a pair of horizontal rails or timbers for supporting anything, as a boat, a barrel, etc.

3. (Aëronautics) A runner (one or two) under some flying machines, used for landing.

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. pl. Declining fortunes; a movement toward defeat or downfall; -- used mostly in the phrase on the skids and hit the skids.

6. [From the v.] Act of skidding; -- called also side slip.

SkidSkid, 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. Dickens.

3. (Forestry) To haul (logs) to a skid and load on a skidway.

SkidSkid, 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.