Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To read (a book, for example) by means of speed-reading.
  • intransitive verb To practice or engage in speed-reading.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A computer speed-read the addresses, and the machine sprayed on their bar codes.

    Poor Penmanship Spells Job Security for Post Office's Scribble Specialists Barry Newman 2011

  • I feel the truth of Nicholas Carr's argument in The Shallows: How The Internet Is Changing The Way We Think, Read And Remember that "the linear, literary mind" is under assault from the web's encouragement to scan, speed-read and click.

    Lucy Mangan: Hi-tech or lowbrow? Lucy Mangan 2010

  • I'll have to speed-read to work in all of these titles in the next three weeks, after I finish Laura Lippman's new mystery, Life Sentences.

    Chicken Spaghetti: 2009

  • He slept five hours or less a night, could speed-read at least three books a week—mostly on military history and politics but also Shakespeare plays his favorites—and filled notebooks with lines he wanted to remember.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • Intelligent, with an impressive memory, he would speed-read down the page, filing away information for later use.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • I'll have to speed-read to work in all of these titles in the next three weeks, after I finish Laura Lippman's new mystery, Life Sentences.

    The Holds Rush In 2009

  • Having had the fortune to enjoy the occupational opportunity to speed-read or rifle through thousands of books, it is the seemingly banal ones I would never have considered purchasing that make me envious of Oppenheimer when a telling fact or anecdote taunts you from just beyond the grasp of memory.

    Confessions of a sporting bibliophile | Rob Bagchi 2011

  • Math-loving traders are using powerful computers to speed-read news reports, editorials, company Web sites, blog posts and even Twitter messages - and then letting the machines decide what it all means for the markets.

    Mary Bottari: Booya! Latest Wall Street Innovation -- Twitter Trading Mary Bottari 2011

  • - Okay, I was a little surprised at the speed-read seminar assignment but I took a dive into the books nonetheless and was immediately and completely appalled by every single notion in those tomes, all of which you can boil down to this: People have no idea what they want.

    Saving the economy one breakfast sandwich at a time 2010

  • He slept five hours or less a night, could speed-read at least three books a week—mostly on military history and politics but also Shakespeare plays his favorites—and filled notebooks with lines he wanted to remember.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

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