▪ I. slime, n.
(slaɪm)
Forms: 1, 3 slim, 3–5 slym, 5 slyym, 3–7 slyme; 5– slime.
[Common Teut.: OE. sl{iacu}m, = Fris. slym, slīm, slim, MDu. slijm, slym- (Du. slijm), MLG. slym, slim (LG. slîm), MHG. slîm (G. schleim), ON. sl{iacu}m (MSw., Norw., Da. slim, † sliim). The stem is prob. related to that of L. līmus.]
1. a. Soft glutinous mud; alluvial ooze; viscous matter deposited or collected on stones, etc.
| a 1000 in Wr.-Wülcker 195 Borbus, cena, slim. c 1050 Ibid. 439 Limus, slim. c 1150 Cant. Ps. lxvii. 2 Afestnod ic æm on..slim dipæ. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 338 Anonriȝt þe se wende aȝein, with watur and with slyme. a 1300 E.E. Ps. lxviii. 2, I am festened in slime [that] depe esse. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 133 Nilus..bycause of slym þat renneþ þerwith..makeþ þe londe fatte. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 191 God wold not fourm woman of the Slyme as he dud man. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 762 See slyme..and slyme of flood, With other donge ymynged, is right good. 1568 Withals Dict. 7 b/1 Slime or mudde in water, dicitur limus. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 21 As when old father Nilus gins to swell..His fattie waues do fertile slime outwell. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii, Let him feed on slime That smeares the dungeon cheeke. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 414 The teeming Tide..Makes green the Soil with Slime, and black prolific Sands. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 432 The struggling of the fish, in order to extricate itself at first from the slime. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 24 An oily slime, found in the bottoms of ditches and of weedy pools. 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xxxiii, A greenish slime overspread the lower portions of the wall, and coated the uneven pavement. 1894 S. Weyman Lady Rotha xxiii, The clinging slime and the reek of the marsh. |
b. Applied to bitumen.
| 1530 Tindale Prol. to Five Bks. Moses Wks. 6/2 That slyme was a fatnesse that issued out of the earth, like vnto tarre; and thou mayst call it cement, if thou wilte. 1535 Coverdale Gen. xi. 3 They toke bryck for stone, & slyme for morter. 1601 Holland Pliny vii. xv, The very clammie slime Bitumen. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 298 The rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor..And with Asphaltic slime. 1764 Harmer Observ. iii. §vii. 97 Norden describes the ægyptian..architecture as differing from the Roman, being of mud and slime. 1853 Layard Nineveh & Babylon 202 To bring fresh slime to the surface, the Arabs threw large stones into the springs. |
2. a. A viscous substance or fluid of animal or vegetable origin; mucus, semen, etc.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 276 Nert tu icumen of ful slim? c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 191 Þare feol out of eiþer eiȝe Fuylþe ase þei it were slym. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 334 Þei coruen hit of me & wosch awei mi slym. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 9115 A lyknesse off ordure, And a statue off slyym vnclene. 1530 Palsgr. 271/1 Slyme of fysshe, lymon. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 291 The Decoction of Betonie..doth clense and scoure the breast and lunges from flegme and slyme. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 434 Tenches..with their glutinous slime. 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 219 Like that slime which the snaile leaues when it creepes. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 195 Too frequent Rains infect them with Slime and Snivel. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 167 The earth-worm..takes hold by the slime of the fore part of its body. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) IV. 110 Branches shaped like a worm, filled with slime containing granulations. 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) I. 227 The discharge thrown up consists of acrid slime and porraceous bile. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 180 The masses of starch containing slime..have not yet been discovered in the plants in question. |
b. Applied to star-jelly (see jelly n.1 2 b).
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashm. Theatr. Chem. Brit. (1652) 191 The Slyme of Sterrs that falleth to the grownde. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. i. 2 Like to a Meteor, whose materiall Is low unwieldy earth, base unctuous slime. 1656 Cowley Misc., Reason ii, So Stars appear to drop to us from skie,..But when they fall..What but a sordid Slime is found? |
3. fig. a. Applied disparagingly to the human body, to man in general, or to single persons.
| c 1315 Shoreham iv. 112 Þat doþ þat mannes body ybered Nys bote a lyte slym. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 565 Saynt Bernard says..Þat ‘man here es nathyng elles Bot a foule slyme’. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 2 He ys not but a wryche and slyme of erth. 1504 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. xiv. 209 Lerne, thou erth & slyme, to humble the. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 50 What time th' eternall Lord in fleshly slime Enwombed was. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. v, Ant. Scum of the mud of hell! Alb. Slime of all filth! 1652 Benlowes Theoph. v. xv. 63 Dares mortal Slime..expresse What ev'n Celestials do confesse Is inexpressible? |
b. Applied to what is morally filthy or otherwise disgusting.
| 1575–85 Sandys Serm. 156 Now that Christ hath cleansed vs from our sinne, let vs not swinelike returne to wallowe in that slime againe. 1593 Nashe Strange Newes K j, Art, like yong grasse.., was glad to peepe vp through any slime of corruption. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 70 Drunkennesse, whose putrefactious slime Darkens the splendour of our common wealth. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. iii. (1869) 66 It is varnished over with the slime of servility. 1898 G. Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 15 What raised This wallower in old slime to noblest heights. |
4. a. Mining. Finely crushed or powdered metallic ore in the form of mud.
| 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 180 Thus the slimes are finished, and brought to as great a degree of purity as the size of the tin..will permit. 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 226 Leavings of Tin..consist of slime and tails. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 751 The metallic slime being first floated in the water of the trough, then flows out and is deposited in the tank. 1855 J. R. L[eifchild] Cornw. Mines 205 The ore, on issuing forth, deposits its rough in the first basin, and its slimes in the following basins. 1874 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 415 By slimes or slums I do not mean to include any slimes whatever from the pan-tailings. Ibid., The slimes here spoken of..have never been worked at all. |
b. Also anode slime. The deposit of insoluble material formed at the anode in the electrolytic refining of copper and some other metals; = anode mud s.v. anode c.
| 1902 J. McCrae tr. Arrhenius' Text-bk. Electrochem. xvi. 276 The other impurities, such as gold, silver,..and lead, remain undissolved, or form insoluble compounds..and falling from the anode, collect in the so-called anode slime. 1935 W. A. Koehler Princ. & Applic. Electrochem. II. xxiii. 170 A large part of the silver produced is obtained from the slimes which are a by-product from the electrorefining of baser metals, especially from the refining of copper, lead, nickel, and zinc. 1954 M. C. Sneed et al. Comprehensive Inorg. Chem. II. ii. 128 Copper refinery slime is a dirty-black mixture of very finely divided copper and metallic and nonmetallic anode impurities. 1969 H. T. Evans tr. Hägg's Gen. & Inorg. Chem. xxxvi. 749 Silver and gold by-products of the production of copper are collected in the anode slime during copper electrolysis. |
5. techn. (See quot.)
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1164 The thin stuff, called slimes, upon the surface of the starch, is removed by a tray of a peculiar form. |
6. attrib. and Comb. a. In sense 1, as slime-bank, slime-bath, slime lagoon; slime-browned, etc.
| 1597 Marlowe Ovid's Elegies iii. v, Floud with reede⁓growne slime bankes. 1756 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 421 Here is also..a muddy bath. [marg.] Slime bath. 1776 Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad ix. 370 Each joyful sailor..with firm tugs the rollers from the brine, Reluctant dragg'd, the slime-brown'd anchors raise. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. xxviii, I saw the boat..waiting for them at the slime-washed stairs. 1877 Ruskin St. Mark's Rest i. ii. 23 The crocodile,..slime-begotten of old. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 338 More specimens of those awful slime lagoons. |
b. In sense 2, as slime-gland, slime-pore, slime-track; slime-secreting adj.
| a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 24 As the snail cannot but leave a slime-track behind it. 1883 Science I. 433/2 A terminal slime-gland accentuated by a short deep groove. 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 570 A ciliated slime-secreting band. Ibid. VI. 344 The hinder end of the foot..terminating in a conspicuous mucus or slime-pore. |
c. In sense 4, as slime-ore, slime-table, slime-tin, slime-yard; slimes dam (S. Afr.); slime-coated adj., slime-separator, slime-silvered adj., etc.
| 1778 Pryce Min. Cornub. 238 It still retains much dirt and mud, whence it is called Slime Ore. Ibid., It may be trunked..the same as slime Tin. 1874 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 414 The shaking collects the floured and slime-coated quicksilver. Ibid. 415 In such cases it is necessary to build slime-yards outside the mill. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2210/2 Slime-separator. 1927 Joyce On Beach at Fontana in Pomes Penyeach, A senile sea numbers each single Slimesilvered stone. 1956 Archit. Rev. CXX. 48/3 There are three main varieties of dump, the sand dumps.., the rock dumps.., and the slimes dams, 50 to 100 feet high, covering wide areas, flat-topped. 1971 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) (Mag. Section) 28 Mar. 11/5 That square outline you see at the corner of what looks like a Witwatersrand slimes dam is, in fact, the remains of a Roman army camp. |
7. Special combs.: slime-eel (see quots.); slime-flux, a slimy excretion on trees; slime-fungi, = myxomycetes; slime-head, a fish of the sub-family Berycoidea; slime-moulds, = slime-fungi; slime-sponge (see quot.).
| 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea v. 129 The *Slime Eel (Myxine glutinosa) bears a great likeness to the Lamprey. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 681 The ‘Slime Eel’..is found on the Atlantic coast north of Cape Cod. |
| 1897 W. G. Smith tr. Tubeuf's Dis. Plants 141 According to Ludwig, species of Endomyces have much to do with the *slime-flux of trees. |
| Ibid. 523 The vegetative body of the *Slime-fungi consists of naked protoplasm without a firm membrane. |
| 1896 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. V. 353 The Berycoids or *Slime-Heads. Ibid., The slime-heads..are all marine fishes, with a practically cosmopolitan distribution. |
| 1880 Bessey Botany 170 Even in the lowest plants, the *Slime Moulds..will contract into rounded masses. 1899 Nature 21 Dec. 173/2 We do not think that the adoption of the name ‘slime moulds’ is a happy one. |
| 1883 W. S. Kent in Fisheries Bahamas 38 The skeletonless *Slime-sponge (Halisarca Dujardinii) more usually resembles..dabs of red-currant jelly scattered upon the surface of the rocks or seaweeds. |
▪ II. slime, v.1
(slaɪm)
[f. slime n. Cf. Fris. slymje, LG. slîmen, G. schleimen to give out slime, clean from slime, etc.]
1. trans. To smear or cover with slime.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. xxi, Like the Crocodile, he slimes thy way, to make thee fall. 1682 Dryden & Lee Duke of Guise iii. i, Daubing the Inside of the Court like Snails, Sliming our Walls, and pricking out your Hornes. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. viii. 415 Your lawless Mississippi, now who slimes And drowns and desolates his waste of climes. 1859 Lang Wand. India 264 The snake..commenced, with his forked tongue,..to slime his victim all over. 1872 Tennyson Last Tourn. 471 The knights..sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves. |
| fig. 1860 Tennyson Sea Dreams 189 Gifts of grace he forged, And snake-like slimed his victim ere he gorged. 1897 Blackmore in Blackw. Mag. Sept. 369 The trivial wormcasts of rank and money which cannot even slime the scythe of death. |
2. a. To make (one's way) in a slimy fashion. b. intr. To crawl slimily; to become slimy.
| 1842 Tait's Mag. IX. 374 Stealthily, serpently, he slimed his way Unto the pay-master. 1851 G. H. Kingsley Sport & Trav. (1900) 533 The happy insouciance of a snail ‘sliming’ up the side of the Parthenon. |
3. techn. To clear (skins, fish, etc.) of slimy matter by scraping.
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. R5v, To fry Lampreys, Bleed them, preserve their Blood, slime them, and cut them in pieces. 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 86 Slime your Tenches. 1845 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. V. 203 The skins are removed to a beam and there ‘slimed’, that is, scraped on the flesh side to remove a slimy substance which exudes from the pores. |
▪ III. slime, v.2 Harrow slang.
(slaɪm)
[Of obscure origin.]
intr. To move in a gliding, stealthy, or sneaking manner.
| 1898 Howson & Warner Harrow School 282 His ‘house⁓beak’ ‘slimed’ (went round quietly) and ‘twug’ him. 1905 H. A. Vachell The Hill i, When he does come over on our side of the House, he slimes about in carpet slippers. |
▪ IV. † slime, v.3 Obs.—1
(Meaning uncertain.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 8096 Hit pleaside hir priuely, playntyde ho noght, Let hit slip from hyr slyly, slymyt þerat. |