skateboard.html - noun
(Lifestyle and Leisure ) (Youth Culture ) The use of a skateboard (a small board mounted on roller-skate wheels), for sport and recreation. Etymology: Formed on the noun skateboard, which was formed by compounding after the example of surfboard: a board which relies on skates to provide mobility. History and Usage: Skateboards first appeared in the early sixties in California, where they originally provided a substitute for surfing when the ocean conditions were unfavourable. In the mid seventies they enjoyed a short-lived worldwide craze, during which numerous skateparks were built in which skateboarders could practise tricks and manoeuvres in safety. The pastime never completely died out, and by the second half of the eighties had become fashionable again, perhaps because of its appearance in such films as Back to the Future (1985). Some of the special language used by skateboarders (such as gleaming the cube for 'pushing oneself to the limits') also enjoyed wider popularity as a result of films about skateboarding. Surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding looks have been so mass-marketed that the purists feel betrayed. Los Angeles Times 12 Sept . 1990, section S, p. 4

skateboard.html - n. & v.
--n.

a short narrow board on roller-skate wheels for riding on while standing.

--v.

intr. ride on a skateboard.

skateboarder n.

skateboard.html - See: CHEAP SKATE.

skateboard.html - {v. phr.} To take a chance; risk danger, disapproval or anger. * /You'll be skating on thin ice if you ask Dad to increase your allowance again./ * /John knew he was skating on thin ice, but he could not resist teasing his sister about her boyfriend./

skateboard.html - noun
(Lifestyle and Leisure ) (Youth Culture ) The use of a skateboard (a small board mounted on roller-skate wheels), for sport and recreation. Etymology: Formed on the noun skateboard, which was formed by compounding after the example of surfboard: a board which relies on skates to provide mobility. History and Usage: Skateboards first appeared in the early sixties in California, where they originally provided a substitute for surfing when the ocean conditions were unfavourable. In the mid seventies they enjoyed a short-lived worldwide craze, during which numerous skateparks were built in which skateboarders could practise tricks and manoeuvres in safety. The pastime never completely died out, and by the second half of the eighties had become fashionable again, perhaps because of its appearance in such films as Back to the Future (1985). Some of the special language used by skateboarders (such as gleaming the cube for 'pushing oneself to the limits') also enjoyed wider popularity as a result of films about skateboarding. Surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding looks have been so mass-marketed that the purists feel betrayed. Los Angeles Times 12 Sept . 1990, section S, p. 4

skateboard.html - n. & v.
--n.

1 each of a pair of steel blades (or of boots with blades attached) for gliding on ice.
2 (in full roller skate) each of a pair of metal frames with small wheels, fitted to shoes for riding on a hard surface.
3 a device on which a heavy object moves.

--v.

1 a intr. move on skates. b tr. perform (a specified figure) on skates.
2 intr. (foll. by over) refer fleetingly to, disregard.

get one's skates on Brit. sl. make haste. skate on thin ice colloq. behave rashly, risk danger, esp. by dealing with a subject needing tactful treatment. skating-rink a piece of ice artificially made, or a floor used, for skating.

skater n. [orig. scates (pl.) f. Du. schaats (sing.) f. ONF escace, OF eschasse stilt]