Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Slippery
1.
Having the quality opposite to adhesiveness; allowing or causing anything to slip or move smoothly, rapidly, and easily upon the surface; smooth; glib;
as, oily substances render things
. slippery
2.
Not affording firm ground for confidence;
as, a
. slippery
promiseThe
slippery
tops of human state. Cowley.
3.
Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away.
The
slippery
god will try to loose his hold. Dryden.
4.
Liable to slip; not standing firm.
Shak.
5.
Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle.
“The slippery state of kings.” Denham.
6.
Uncertain in effect.
L’Estrange.
7.
Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.
Shak.
Slippery elm
. (Bot.)
(a)
An American tree (
. Ulmus fulva
) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself(b)
A malvaceous shrub (
Fremontia Californica
); – so called on the Pacific coast.Webster 1828 Edition
Slippery
SLIP'PERY
,Adj.
1.
Smooth; glib; having the quality opposite to adhesiveness; as, oily substances render things slippery.2.
Not affording firm footing or confidence; as a slippery promise. The slipp'ry tops of human state.3.
Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away. The slipp'ry god will try to loose his hold.4.
Not standing firm, as slippery standers.5.
Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; as the slippery state of kings.6.
Not certain in its effect; as a slippery trick. 7.
Lubrious; wanton; unchaste.Definition 2024
slippery
slippery
English
Adjective
slippery (comparative slipperier, superlative slipperiest)
- Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.
- Oily substances render things slippery.
- (figuratively, by extension) Evasive; difficult to pin down.
- a slippery person
- a slippery promise
- (obsolete) Liable to slip; not standing firm.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 84:
- Which when they fall, as being slippery standers, / The love that leaned on them, as slippery too, / Do one pluck down another, and together / Die in the fall.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 84:
- Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
- 1668, Sir John Denham
- He looking down
With scorn or pity on the slippery state
Of kings, will tread upon the neck of fate.
- He looking down
- 1668, Sir John Denham
- (obsolete) Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.
- 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I. ii. 273:
- My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess –
- 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I. ii. 273:
Derived terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Synonyms
Antonyms
- (of a surface): sticky
Translations
of a surface
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