skimmer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that skims, such as a large perforated spoon used in skimming liquids.
2. n. A light, usually straw hat with a stiff wide brim and a flat shallow crown.
3. n. Any of several chiefly coastal birds of the genus Rynchops, having long narrow wings and a long bill with a longer lower mandible for skimming the water's surface for food.
4. n. A black skimmer.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who or that which skims; especially, an implement used for skimming. Specifically
2. n. A flat shallow pan of metal perforated at the bottom to allow liquids to drain through; a colander.
3. n. A stiff bar of iron used in a foundry to hold back the floating slag while pouring molten metal from the ladle.
4. n. One of several bivalves whose shells may be used to skim milk, etc.
5. n. The common clam, Mya arenaria.
6. n. The big beach-clam, Mactra or Spisula solidissima.
7. n. A scallop, as Pecten maximus.
8. n. One who skims over a subject; a superficial student or reader.
9. n. A bird that skims or shears the water, as any member of the genus Rhynchops; a cutwater, Shearwater, or Scissorbill. The American species is R. nigra, specified as the black skimmer, common on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and southward. It closely resembles a tern or sea-swallow, except in its bizarre bill. The upper parts are chiefly black, the lower white, with a rosy blush in the breeding-season; the bill is carmine and black; the feet are carmine. The length is 16 to 20 inches, the extent 42 to 50 inches; the upper mandible is 3 inches, the lower 3½ to 4½. See cut under Rhynchops.
10. To skim lightly to and fro.

Wiktionary

1. n. A device that skims.
2. n. A person who skims.
3. n. Any of three species of bird in the genus Rynchops of the family Laridae, that feed by skimming the surface of water bodies with their bills in flight.
4. n. Any of several large bivalve shells, sometimes used for skimming milk, such as the sea clams and large scallops.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, skims; esp., a utensil with which liquids are skimmed.
2. n. (Zoöl.) Any species of longwinged marine birds of the genus Rhynchops, allied to the terns, but having the lower mandible compressed and much longer than the upper one. These birds fly rapidly along the surface of the water, with the lower mandible immersed, thus skimming out small fishes. The American species (R. nigra) is common on the southern coasts of the United States. Called also scissorbill, and shearbill.
3. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several large bivalve shells, sometimes used for skimming milk, as the sea clams, and large scallops.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a cooking utensil used to skim fat from the surface of liquids
2. n. a rapid superficial reader
3. n. a stiff hat made of straw with a flat crown
4. n. gull-like seabird that flies along the surface of the water with an elongated lower mandible immersed to skim out food