- skate (n.1)
- type of flat, cartilaginous fish, mid-14c., from Old Norse skata, of unknown origin.
- skate (n.2)
- "ice skate or roller skate," 1660s, skeates "ice skates" (the custom was brought to England after the Restoration by exiled followers of Charles II who had taken refuge in Holland), from Dutch schaats (singular, mistaken in English as plural), from Middle Dutch schaetse, from Old North French escache "a stilt, trestle," from Old French eschace "stilt" (French échasse), from Frankish *skakkja "stilt" (cf. Frisian skatja "stilt"), perhaps literally "thing that shakes or moves fast" and related to root of Old English sceacan "to vibrate" (see shake). Or perhaps the Dutch word is connected to Middle Low German schenke, Old English scanca "leg" (see shank). Sense alteration in Dutch from "stilt" to "skate" is not clearly traced.
- skate (v.)
- 1690s, from skate (n.2). U.S. slang sense of "to get away with something" is attested from 1945. Related: Skated; skating.