'on the skids' definitions:

Definition of 'on the skids'

From: GCIDE

Skid \Skid\ (sk[i^]d), n. [Icel. sk[imac][eth] a billet of wood. See Shide.] [Written also skeed.]
1. A shoe or clog, as of iron, attached to a chain, and placed under the wheel of a wagon to prevent its turning when descending a steep hill; a drag; a skidpan; also, by extension, a hook attached to a chain, and used for the same purpose. [1913 Webster]
2. A piece of timber used as a support, or to receive pressure. Specifically: (a) pl. (Naut.) Large fenders hung over a vessel's side to protect it in handling a cargo. --Totten. (b) One of a pair of timbers or bars, usually arranged so as to form an inclined plane, as form a wagon to a door, along which anything is moved by sliding or rolling. (c) One of a pair of horizontal rails or timbers for supporting anything, as a boat, a barrel, etc. [1913 Webster]
3. (Aeronautics) A runner (one or two) under some flying machines, used for landing. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
4. A low movable platform for supporting heavy items to be transported, typically of two layers, and having a space between the layers into which the fork of a fork lift can be inserted; it is used to conveniently transport heavy objects by means of a fork lift; -- a skid without wheels is the same as a pallet. [PJC]
5. pl. Declining fortunes; a movement toward defeat or downfall; -- used mostly in the phrase
on the skids and
hit the skids. [PJC]
6. [From the v.] Act of skidding; -- called also side slip. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]