flipper vs skim

flipper

verb
  • To lift one or both flippers out of the water and slap the surface of the water. 

noun
  • Television remote control, clicker. 

  • A type of ball bowled by a leg spin bowler, which spins backwards and skids off the pitch with a low bounce. 

  • A flat lever in a pinball machine, triggered by the player to strike the ball and keep it in play. 

  • A kind of false tooth, usually temporary. 

  • A small flat used to support a larger one. 

  • Someone who flips, in the sense of buying a house or other asset and selling it quickly for profit. 

  • Someone who flips in any other sense, for example throwing a coin. 

  • In marine mammals such as whales, a wide flat limb, adapted for swimming. 

  • A flat, wide, paddle-like rubber covering for the foot, used in swimming. 

  • A kitchen spatula. 

skim

verb
  • To throw an object so it bounces on water. 

  • To surreptitiously scan a payment card in order to obtain its information for fraudulent purposes. 

  • To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of. 

  • To read quickly, skipping some detail. 

  • To scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface 

  • To ricochet. 

  • To hasten along with superficial attention. 

  • To become coated over. 

  • To clear a liquid from (scum or substance floating or lying on it), especially the cream that floats on top of fresh milk. 

  • To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface. 

  • To put on a finishing coat of plaster. 

  • To clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying on it, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface. 

  • To steal money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection. 

adj
  • Having lowered fat content. 

noun
  • Skim milk. 

  • That which is skimmed off. 

  • The act of skimming. 

  • A cursory reading, skipping the details. 

  • Theft of money from a business before the transaction has been recorded, thus avoiding detection. 

How often have the words flipper and skim occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )