skateboardyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
1964, noun and verb, from skate (v.) on model of surfboard. The phenomenon began c. 1963 in southern California and was nationwide the following summer.
Skateboarding requires only a tapered piece of wood flexibly mounted on roller-skate wheels and a stretch of pavement -- preferably downhill and away from traffic. ["Life," June 5, 1964]
taper (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1580s, "shoot up like a flame or spire," via an obsolete adjective taper, from taper (n.), on the notion of the converging form of the flame of a candle. Sense of "become slender, gradually grow less in size, force, etc." first recorded c. 1600. Transitive sense from 1670s. Related: Tapered; tapering.