A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

ski race • ski run
ski race —(also: skiing race) a contest of speed between skiers:
There should be a competent course patrol for all ski races
made up from the personnel of the club.
ski run —
1
. an instance of traveling on skis: It is on one of
these long ski runs alone that a man can think out his problems
best. 2. a slope or route prepared for skiing: The climb was
steep as a downhill ski run.
skin a cat • skin the cat
skin a cat—
1
. (coll.) be a miser; spend as little as possible
(also: skin a flint): She was very economical and wasted noth-
ing, some said, “she would skin a cat for its hide and tallow.”
2. accomplish smth. (in allusion to the saying “there’s more than
one way to skin a cat”): “The poster of Lenin is not a political
statement,” he assures students, “just a reminder that there
are many views of how to skin a cat.”
skin the cat—(U.S.) perform a gymnastic exercise involving
passing the legs between the arms while hanging by the hands:
Some trees linger in our memories as old friends, from whose
branches we have swung and “skinned-the-cat.”
skin someone for something • skin someone of
something
skin someone for something —(hyperbolic) punish or repri-
mand a person severely for an offense, etc. (also: skin someone
alive for something ): I don’t think we should mention this
unfortunate encounter to your father. He would skin me for
compromising you.
skin someone of something —(sl.) cheat a person of money or
property by swindling: Kyranians required agile minds to deal
with all the caravans…. Otherwise the shrewd traders would
have skinned them of all their goods.
skin-deep • skinny dip
skin-deep —
1
. involving a surface only: We sent for a doctor
… and on his examining Pagolo, we discovered that the wound
was only skin-deep. 2. having little substance; superficial: The
technical reviews of digital cameras are skin-deep compared
to the in-depth reviews by the online photography sites.
skinny dip —(a consonant nominal phrase) bathing or swim-
ming in the nude: “Fancy a skinny-dip?” I giggled, gazing at
the crashing waves.