The informal phrase to put, or to get, one’s skates on means: to hurry up. Here, the image is of a skater gliding rapidly over an ice surface—cf., below, quotation 1 from Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield.

In early use, the phrase to put, or to get, one’s skates on was also used to mean: to get drunk. Here, the rolling gait of a drunk person is likened to the swaying motion of an ice skater—cf., below, quotation 3 from The Wilkes-Barre Record of Thursday 22^nd April 1886.

Note: In British-Army slang, during the First World War, the phrase to put, or to get, one’s skates on came to also mean: to avoid duty. The earliest occurrence that I have found is from Slang in War-Time, by the British historian Archibald Sparke (1871-1970), published in The Athenæum (London, England) of Friday 8^th August 1919 [No. 4,658, page 727, column 2]:

One who is absent or missing is “on the wire,” and is soon on “the peg” (under arrest) or “for the jumps” (up for trial). To evade duty, or get clear, you “put your skates on,” and when told to “imshi” you must get out of the way pretty quickly.

The earliest occurrences of to put, or to get, one’s skates on that I have found are as follows, in chronological order—the meaning of the phrase in quotations 6, 9 and 14 is unclear:

1-: An isolated early figurative use of to put skates on occurred in The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger. Of Blunderstone Rookery. (Which he Never Meant to be Published on Any Account.) (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1849), by the English novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) [Vol. 1, page 73]:

I felt the words of my lessons slipping off, not one by one, or line by line, but by the entire page. I tried to lay hold of them; but they seemed, if I may so express it, to have put skates on, and to skim away from me with a smoothness there was no checking.

2-: From The Spirit of Democracy (Woodsfield, Ohio, USA) of Tuesday 30^th November 1880 [Vol. 37, No. 42, page 3, column 2]—the following is about “Captain John Hofer, of Batesville, this county, Captain of a fishing party and big-man-not-afraid”:

The editor of that paper published at Sistersville, West Va., started that story about John offering to bet that Monroe county would give Garfield a majority, and the best thing for him to do is to put on his skates and fly South before the valliant [sic] Captain, big-man-not-afraid, goes for his head gear.

3-: From The Wilkes-Barre Record (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA) of Thursday 22^nd April 1886 [No. 249, page 3, column 4]:

The latest expression to indicate that a man is jolly drunk is to say that “he’s got his skates on.” People who go rolling home in the morning are evperts [sic].

4-: From The Evening Republican (Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA) of Wednesday 31^st October 1888 [Vol. 2, No. 294, page 1, column 3]:

Charles Howard, of Warren, O., a man who has been selling books in Meadville, of late, “got his skates on,” so to speak, Tuesday afternoon, and wandered into the St. Cloud Hotel. The bar-tender did not know what to do with Charles, and handed him over to the care of Chief of Police Hanaway. In due time the man who was so happy was arraigned in police court to answer to the charge of d. and d.

5-: From The Minneapolis Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) of Friday 11^th January 1889 [Vol. 22, No. 247, page 4, column 3]:

There are several reasons why we cannot indorse the phrase, now in vogue in the East, “he’s got his skates on,” when referring to a gentleman who has drank more than is expedient to good health. Not but that it sounds more refined than the statement “he’s got his jag on,” for it certainly does, and we may add, that there is a more euphonious ring in the “skate” sentiment, than in the remark “he’s loaded,” “paralyzed,” or even “half seas over.” Our principal objection to the “his skates on” phrase is that it fails to give the individual ignorant of the idioms of speech of our country a clear and graphic idea of the gentleman’s real condition. It is important that our language should be so moulded as to instantly convey the idea expressed to the uninitiated. “He’s got his skates on,” manifestly fails in this regard. Few people would immediately understand one’s meaning, when such reference was made to a gentleman who has been chasing the serpent and whose pursuit was attended with unqualified success. Therefore we would recommend that the phrase be boycotted, and the more expressive words “He’s looking for a fine,” or “He’ll sigh for ice-water” be substituted in their stead.

6-: From The Minneapolis Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) of Sunday 20^th January 1889 [Vol. 22, No. 256, page 4, column 5]:

The two slang expressions “In the soup” and “He has his skates on,” have been given a sudden jump to popularity in the Northwest by their application to members of the legislature in connection with their selection of W. D. Washburn as candidate for United States senator. When it is known that Mr. Washburn was the successful candidate, that D. M. Clough supported him and that H. C. Hanke did not, the definition of the two terms will be understood from the following dialogue, which took place the night after the caucus:
“How’s Hanke, now?” asked J. S. Van Antwerp of a Minneapolis man.
“He’s in the soup,” was the answer.
“How’s Clough?” asked Van.
“He’s got his skates on, you can bet your life.”
Then both understood just how the two men felt.
L. B. L.

7-: From the following advertisement, published in The Evening Item (Richmond, Indiana, USA) of Friday 8^th February 1889 [Vol. 12, No. 34, page 2, column 4]:

Slick Hustler.
When a man—or boy—is “slick” ’tis said he can slide. If he’s a “hustler” they say he’s got his “skates on” all the time; and now that we’ve determined to close out all our sleds and ice skates at cost you can all hustle and be slick enough to slide anywhere. Come now or you’ll get left. t-2
Illif’s Fair.

8-: From an account of a horse race, published in the Buffalo Express (Buffalo, New York, USA) of Saturday 10^th August 1889 [page 5, column 4]:

The favorite Lillian got off poorly, and was never in the race. Billy Stewart took the lead, followed by Allen Maid, Wilcox, and Grey Harry. The other horses were strung out. Louis Grabbenstatter’s entry, Grey Harry, got his skates on and at the half-mile post was coming up fast. Grey Harry, Wilcox, Allen Maid, and Billy Stewart were all in a bunch, Grey Harry leading slightly.

9-: From the Jamestown Weekly Alert (Jamestown, North Dakota, USA) of Thursday 12^th December 1889 [Vol. 13, No. 18, page 1, column 4]:

E. L. Calkins is another Jamestownite who has succeeded in rounding up a legislative position, having recently been appointed by Lieutenant Governor Dickey, watchman of the senate. The responsibilities of the position are confined to one requirement, viz:—that both eyes be kept open; but the pay is $5 per day. E. L. gives promise of making a record with the other Jamestown boys for popularity. In fact he has already made considerable progress in that direction, and ’tis said that he puts his skates on like the hero of many encounters.

10-: From one of the unconnected paragraphs making up column 1, page 3 of the Journal & Herald (Springville, New York, USA) of Friday 3^rd January 1890 [Vol. 24, No. 1]—“the to” is a misprint of “to the”:

Postmaster Chafee had to “get his skates on” Tuesday night, in order to get off his annual and monthly report the to government, but with Bert’s assistance he “got there.”

11-: From the Tacoma Daily Ledger (Tacoma, Washington, USA) of Friday 17^th January 1890 [Vol. 8, No. 17, page 3, column 2]:

Sleepy Tom is a homely old horse with quite a name as a pacer. It is said that he has a record of 2:14, but that he is apt to give up a race after the first mile if the day should be warm. He is owned by Belles & Pearsall of Puyallup. Odometer is a handsome dark bay trotter owned by James Dougan. He looks a little heavy in front but is said to have good blood in him and to be capable of good work. He is nine years old, but never trotted a race for money until he tried to knock out Sleepy Tom. Then he had been in training only six weeks. The owners of the two horses thought they were pretty good judges of what they owned, and thought so to the extent of $1,700 each. The $3,400 was put up and the race came off in the snow, with over $10,000 in outside bets deposited on the outcome. The pacer put on his skates and easily won the race.

12-: From Police Court, published in The Davenport Democrat (Davenport, Iowa, USA) of Tuesday 4^th February 1890 [page 1, column 4]:

Mr. Spratt, for tarrying too long at the beer, and raising Cain generally, was fined $3 and costs. Burke Lynch, released Sunday after serving out a 30 days’ sentence for inebriety, proceeded at once to put on his skates again that same day. He used them to such good advantage that he slid back to the old cell that evening. He was salted down this morning for another 30 days. The records bear the entry,—“same old drunk.”

13-: From Brief Local Items, published in The Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) of Thursday 8^th May 1890 [Vol. 43, No. 119, page 8, column 2]:

The contractor for the pavement round the city hall will have to get his skates on. The contract calls for its completion by June 1.

14-: From Local Items, published in the Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, Michigan, USA) of Thursday 9^th October 1890 [Vol. 12, No. 26, page 3, column 3]:

James Van Kleeck will put on his skates in a few days and stump the Tenth district for Watts S. Humphrey for congress. Van is a good talker and makes friends where-ever he goes.—Bay City Tribune.