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Origin and history of skid

skid(n.)

c. 1600, "beam, log, or plank on which something rests," especially on which something heavy can be rolled from place to place (1782), of uncertain origin, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse skið "stick of wood" (see ski (n.)). As "a sliding along" from 1890; specifically of motor vehicles from 1903. Skid-mark is from 1914.

In the timber regions of the American West, skids laid down one after another to form a road were "a poor thing for pleasure walks, but admirably adapted for hauling logs on the ground with a minimum of friction" ["Out West" magazine, October 1903]. A skid as something used to facilitate downhill motion led to figurative phrases such as hit the skids "go into rapid decline" (1909), and see skid row.

also from c. 1600

skid(v.)

1670s, "apply a skid to (a wheel, to keep it from turning)," from skid (n.). In reference to a wheel, "slide along without rotating," by 1838; the extended sense of "slip sideways" (on a wet road, etc.) is by 1884. The original notion is of a block of wood for stopping a wheel; the modern senses are from the notion of a wheel slipping when blocked from revolving.

also from 1670s

Entries linking to skid

ski(n.)

in early use often skee, "one of a pair of long, slender boards or slats fastened to the feet and used to glide over snow," 1883 (there is an isolated instance from 1755), from Norwegian ski, related to Old Norse skið "long snowshoe," literally "stick of wood, firewood," cognate with Old English scid "stick of wood," obsolete English shide "piece of wood split off from timber;" Old High German skit, German Scheit "log," from Proto-Germanic *skid- "to divide, split," from PIE root *skei- "to cut, split."

THE new sport which has lately been introduced at Beloit is skeeing. They are long ash planks, carefully planed and turned up at the end, and are warranted to take you down hill quicker than a wink. After some practice performers become very expert, and the speed with which they go is something surprising. [Beloit College, Wisconsin, Round Table, Dec. 18, 1885]

Ski-jumper is attested from 1894; ski bum, a skiing enthusiast who works casual jobs at resorts for the opportunity to ski, is attested by 1960; ski-mask, originally to protect the face while skiing, is from 1963; noted as part of criminal disguises by 1968.

skid row(n.)

place where vagabonds, low-lifes, and out-of-work men gather in a town, 1921, with reference to Seattle, a variant of skid road "track of skids along which logs are rolled" (1851); see skid (n.). The sense was extended to "part of town inhabited by loggers" (1906), then, in the jargon of hobos, to "disreputable district" (1915), perhaps also suggested by the notion of going downhill.

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