The Definition of "Peruse"

I read this today on comedian Steve Martin's twitter feed (@SteveMartinToGo). Thursday is his "Get It Right Friday" day. :)

Hey, it’s get it right Friday! Did you know the first definition of the word “peruse” is “to look through carefully” and not “to browse”?

I thought that was pretty crazy, since I (believe I) have only heard people use the word "peruse" when they meant "skim". So I looked it up in the dictionary (not that I don't trust Steve Martin, but...), and it gave several definitions (note Steve was right about the first one):

Peruse (verb):

1

a : to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study

b : to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner

2

: read; especially to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner

It means either reading over "attentively" OR "leisurely". It's interesting when a word can mean its own opposite!

At some point someone must have decided that "peruse" was more about "reading" and not-so-much about how you do it!