n. [ G., fr. It. scartare to discard. ] 1. A three-handed card game played with 32 cards, of which two constitute the skat (sense 2), or widow. The players bid for the privilege of attempting any of several games or tasks, in most of which the player undertaking the game must take tricks counting in aggregate at least 61 (the counting cards being ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2). The four jacks are the best trumps, ranking club, spade, heart, diamond, and ten outranks king or queen (but when the player undertakes to lose all the tricks, the cards rank as in whist). The value of hands depends upon the game played, trump suit, points taken, and number of matadores. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Skat) A widow of two cards. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ D. schaats. Cf. Scatches. ] A metallic runner with a frame shaped to fit the sole of a shoe, -- made to be fastened under the foot, and used for moving rapidly on ice. [ 1913 Webster ]

Batavia rushes forth; and as they sweep,
On sounding skates, a thousand different ways,
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along,
The then gay land is maddened all to joy. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Roller skate. See under Roller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Skated; p. pr. & vb. n. Skating. ] To move on skates. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Icel. skata; cf. Prov. G. schatten, meer-schatten, L. squatus, squatina, and E. shad. ] (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of large, flat elasmobranch fishes of the genus Raia, having a long, slender tail, terminated by a small caudal fin. The pectoral fins, which are large and broad and united to the sides of the body and head, give a somewhat rhombic form to these fishes. The skin is more or less spinose. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Some of the species are used for food, as the European blue or gray skate (Raia batis), which sometimes weighs nearly 200 pounds. The American smooth, or barn-door, skate (Raia laevis) is also a large species, often becoming three or four feet across. The common spiny skate (Raia erinacea) is much smaller. [ 1913 Webster ]

Skate's egg. See Sea purse. --
Skate sucker, any marine leech of the genus Pontobdella, parasitic on skates. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who skates. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of hemipterous insects belonging to Gerris, Pyrrhocoris, Prostemma, and allied genera. They have long legs, and run rapidly over the surface of the water, as if skating. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;, dung + -ol. ] (Physiol. Chem.) A constituent of human faeces formed in the small intestines as a product of the putrefaction of albuminous matter. It is also found in reduced indigo. Chemically it is methyl indol, C9H9N. [ 1913 Webster ]