Test Your Vocabulary

Take Our 10-Question Quiz

Name That Thing

Take our visual vocab quiz

Test Your Knowledge »

True or False?

A quick quiz about stuff worth knowing

Take It Now »

Join Us on FB & Twitter

Get the Word of the Day and More

Facebook | Twitter

skitter


skit·ter

verb \ˈski-tər\

Definition of SKITTER

intransitive verb
1
a : to glide or skip lightly or quickly b : to move in or as in a jittery or jerky way <leaves skittering over the sidewalk>
2
: to twitch the hook of a fishing line through or along the surface of water
transitive verb
: to cause to skitter

Examples of SKITTER

  1. Dry leaves skittered over the sidewalk.
  2. Mice skittered across the floor.

Origin of SKITTER

probably frequentative of English dialect (Scots and northern) skite to move quickly, probably from Old Norse skyt-, stem of skjōta to shoot
First Known Use: 1845

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: skittery
Previous Word in the Dictionary: Skittagetan
All Words Near: skitter

Seen & Heard

What made you want to look up skitter? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).