Skate

n. [D. schaats. Cf. SCATCHES.] A frame shaped like the sole of a shoe, furnished with a metallic runner, or sometimes with small wheels, and made to be fastened under the foot, for moving rapidly on ice, or other smooth surface.

Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep, On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, The then gay land is maddened all to joy. Thomson.

v. i. [imp. & p. p. SKATED; p. pr. & vb. n. SKATING.] To slide or move on skates.

n. [Icel. skata, Prov. Ger. schatten, meer-sch(a)tten, Lat. squatus, squatina, A-S. scæadda. Cf. SHAD.] (Ichth.) A cartilaginous fish of the genus Raja, having the body flattened, the skin set above with spines or thorns, the branchial openings below, and cartilaginous flaps extending from the nose backward toward the pectoral fins, which last form broad lateral expansions, and give the whole body a rhomboid form. It is wholly marine, and is found in all parts of the world. The Raja batis, called the skate, gray skate, or blue skate, is the most common, weighing sometimes 200 pounds, and is used for the table.

Long-nosed Skate (Raia chagrinea).