▪ I. sliding, vbl. n.
(ˈslaɪdɪŋ)
[f. slide v.]
1. The action of the verb in various senses (chiefly intransitive).
| (a) c 1325 Prose Ps. lv. 13 Þou deliuered..myn fete fram slydynge. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xx. 20 The slidyng of the false tunge [is] as he that is falling in the pament. c 1460 Contin. Brut ii. 460 The stretes were strawed thurghout for slidyng of theire horses. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. vii. l. 263 The wombe is greuyd with slidynge and slippernesse. 1561 Norton & Sackville Gorboduc ii. i, So slow a slidynge of his aged yeres. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poet. (Arb.) 70 The Dutch..[is so full of] Consonants, that they cannot yeeld the sweet slyding, fit for a Verse. 1605 Marston Dutch Courtezan ii. i, Lying, malice, envie, are held but slidyngs. 1683 Moxon Printing x. ix, Extuberancies of Nail-heads would hinder the free sliding of the Quoins. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. ii. 78 Sliding is but little practised, except by children. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxviii. 395 A sliding of the particles of ice past each other. 1882 Standard 9 Dec. 2/8 The crew rapidly fell to pieces, the sliding being short, the time bad. |
| (b) 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xv. (1739) 82 This way of the Parliament tended to a tacite sliding him out of the Government of the Kingdom. |
2. attrib. a. In sense ‘on which sliding is performed’, as
sliding-place,
sliding-surface,
sliding-way.
| 1611 Cotgr., Babouïn,..a frozen place, whereon boyes vse to slide; a sliding place. 1648 Hexham ii, Een glijdbaen, a Sliding path. 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New-Hampshire III. 157 On the top of the dam..[beavers] always leave a sluice or passage..; and when the stream is large, they leave two or three, which the hunters call sliding-places. 1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 48 The exterior of the valve slightly projects..in a line with the sliding surfaces. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2210/2 The sliding-ways are the inclined planes down which the vessel slides, and are made of planks 3 or 4 inches wide, laid on blocks of wood. |
b. In sense ‘of the nature of, connected with, sliding’, as
sliding contact,
sliding motion,
sliding principle.
| 1690 Locke Essay Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. 144 All parts of Bodies must be easily separable by such a lateral sliding motion. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 664 The lights..should be of the usual sliding construction. 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 378 A very considerable amount of the sliding motion of the metal would be called into play. 1869 Rankine Mach. & Millwork 114 The acting surfaces of a pair of pieces in sliding contact. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2210/2 The gages used by carpenters and artificers generally are on the sliding principle. |
▪ II. sliding, ppl. a. (
ˈslaɪdɪŋ)
[f. slide v.] I. 1. fig. a. That slides or slips away; transitory; unstable, inconstant; passing.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 22 Aug. 150 Ne do ic þæt, forðon þe þeos mennisce tyddernes bið swa slidende swa þæt glæs. a 1000 Saxon Leechd. I. p. lviii, Fleoᵹ þu wesan ealdor slidendes pleᵹan. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. met. v. (1868) 22 Whi suffrest þou þat slidyng fortune turneþ to grete vtter chaungynges of þinges. c 1386 ― Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 179 That slidynge science hath me maad so bare, That I haue no good. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxvi. 5 The slydand joy, the glaidness schort. 1597 Daniel Civ. Wars ii. xxx, The slyding faith of those That cannot long their resolution hold. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. ix, We dye with doing that, for which only, our sliding life was granted. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 62 His Name who made the Sphere, And shew'd the Seasons of the sliding Year. 1765 [E. Thompson] Meretriciad 11 Erase thy vices with the sliding day. |
† b. Of persons: Slippery, unreliable; apt to fall or transgress.
Obs.| c 1435 Chron. London (Kingsford, 1905) 45 A man, the which is nat slyding in his tunge. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione i. iv. 6 Þei knowiþ mannys infirmite redy to euel & sliding ynow in wordes. Ibid. iii. xxii. 90, I am so slidyng & so weike to wiþstonde passions. |
2. Slippery; steeply sloping.
rare.
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 160 Le chimyn trop lidaunt, slidery (sclidinde). 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 704 By fertil vale of Pelethun his sliding road. 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii, A hill, whose sliding sides A goodly flocke, like winter's cov'ring, hides. |
3. a. That moves by sliding or slipping; flowing, gliding, etc.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. metr. ii. (1868) 152 Þe flowynge ordre of þe slidyng water. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2976 The slydande spere of his hande sleppes! 1483 Cath. Angl. 323/1 Sclydynge, labens. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxvi. 3 Quhat is this lyfe bot..A slyding quheill ws lent to seik remeid. 1562 Pilkington Exposit. Abdyas Pref. 8 Safelye slips away the slyding shippe. 1604 B. Jonson Entertainm. Wks. (1616) 882 The many falls Of sweete, and seuerall sliding rills. 1634 Milton Comus 892 By the rushy-fringed bank..My sliding Chariot stayes. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 126 Thy throne A sliding car, indebted to no wheels. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mech. 664 The laws which regulate the friction of rolling and sliding bodies. 1856 Bryant Prairies 107 Sliding reptiles of the ground, Startlingly beautiful. |
b. Accompanied by a sliding movement.
| 1796 Hist. Ned Evans I. 198 Lord Rivers advancing to Edward with a sliding bow. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxii, Craigengelt..made a sliding bow to the Marquis. 1838 Lytton Alice v. vi, Mrs. Merton, with a sliding bow, had already quitted the room. 1948 Assoc. Football (‘Know the Game’ Series) 31/2 A sliding tackle done fairly is not dangerous.., especially when clear contact is made with the ball, and should therefore not be penalised. 1974 Liverpool Echo (Football ed.) 12 Oct. 1/2 Foggon went racing through again, but Boersma took the ball off him with a splendid sliding tackle. |
4. Of language or music: Flowing easily.
| 1627 Drayton Agincourt 207 Dainty Sands that hath to English done, Smooth sliding Quid. 1678 L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 376 His Speech was rather Easie, and Sliding, than Quick. 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile 560, I think that they With sliding voices lean from heavenly towers. 1875 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Sliding relish, a grace in old harpsichord music. 1876 Lowell Among my Books Ser. ii. 156 His attempts to naturalize the sliding rhymes of Sannazzaro in English. |
II. In special uses.
5. Of a knot: Made so as to slip along a cord; running.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Corrediza, a sliding knot. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 34 b/2 We must tye the endes of the threde together, and with a slidinge knott binde the same together. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 253, I..knit a sliding knot vpon the instep of one of his feete. 1818 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) III. 26/1 If one or many of the fixed knots..be replaced by sliding knots, or moveable rings. |
6. a. Designating parts of apparatus or machinery which slide, or are characterized by some sliding device, as
sliding-bar,
sliding-collar,
sliding-joint, etc.;
sliding contact, a connection in an electric circuit that can be slid along a length of resistance wire; see also
s.v. sliding vbl. n. 2 b;
sliding valve = slide-valve.
| 1778 [W. H. Marshall] Minutes Agric., Digest 54 note, The *Sliding bar..ought to be set at such a depth, as..to have a collection of mould before it. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bulletin II. 293 By means of the sliding-bar..this instrument can be adapted to reduce from negatives of almost any size. |
| 1849 Mech. Mag. Apr. 314 The *sliding carriage in or upon which is to be placed any log..intended to be cut. |
| 1680 Moxon Mech. Exerc. xiv. 239 The Neck of the *Sliding Collar. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 125 The balls will fall towards each other, and let down the sliding collar. |
| 1872 Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engineers I. 208 The wire with *sliding contact was apt to wear if much used. 1926 R. W. Hutchinson Wireless 77 Sliding contacts can be moved to and fro along two brass sliding rails. 1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Language xxi. 307 In order to vary the value of one of the known resistances a rheostat may be used, or two of the known resistances may be replaced by a single wire of known resistance with a sliding contact. |
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 225 *Sliding Joint, a boring rod made in two portions, one sliding within the other. |
| 1869 Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. L 2 The spindle is keyed by a *sliding key. |
| 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4855/4 A Silver Jewel Watch,..the *sliding Piece on the Dyal-plate. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 175/1 Instead of fixing the wire to the telescope tube, it is stretched across a sliding-piece. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 325 The nuts of the screws..are not screwed fast to the *sliding plates. |
| 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. x. 49 The same process by the aid of the lathe and the *sliding-rest. |
| 1833 Holland Manuf. Metal II. 44 Some very handsome pruning instruments of the *sliding-shears description. |
| 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 862 Small wires and other pieces are also held in a species of pliers,..called pin-tongs, or *sliding-tongs. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 5/1 The new Daimler engine may be said to have brought us to the end of the first stage of the *sliding-valve principle. |
| 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 350/2 The method of reading the figures of the stave itself, instead of the *sliding vane. |
b. Designating doors, lids, panels, etc., which are opened or shut by sliding.
| 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 96 There must be *sliding Boards, or Doors. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 983 At the pit mouth, where shutters or sliding boards must be used. |
| 1829 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 104 They must all admit of communication..by *sliding Double Doors. 1887 Times 14 Oct. 3/6 A short tramcar,..having a sliding door at each end. |
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. Gloss., *Sliding hatches, covers or shutters fitted in grooves. |
| 1894 Doyle Memoirs Sherlock Holmes 100 A small wooden box, with a *sliding lid. |
| a 1817 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) II. v. 76 Have you a stout heart?—Nerves fit for *sliding pannels and tapestry? 1832 Brewster Nat. Magic xi. 275 The chess-player may be introduced into the chest through the sliding panel. 1862 Chambers's Encycl. III. 93/1 Later in the reign, the royal carriages had sliding panels. |
| 1929 Motor World 29 Mar. 199/1 One or other of the various types of sun-saloons (folding or *sliding roof) may be offered at an extra charge. 1959 Observer 1 Mar. 21/6 Although many will welcome the sliding roof, the handle is rather prominent. |
| 1766 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sciences II., s.v. Madder col. 4, The *sliding-shutters are pulled down. 1842 Francis Dict. Arts, Sluice,..a description of sliding shutter made in a lock or flood-gate. 1889 Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. xii. 131 The air can enter into the various compartments through sliding shutters or louvres. |
| 1724 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1911) VI. 1 Two *sliding windows..with good frame shutters. 1880 Dict. Leading Techn. & Trade Terms Archit. Design & Building Construction 207/1 Another form of opening and closing window is one used in domestic structures of a humble character, and termed a ‘sliding’, sometimes a ‘rolling window’. 1976 H. MacInnes Agent in Place xxv. 260 A stretch of sliding windows opening onto a balcony. |
7. Naut., etc.
a. sliding keel, an extra deep keel which slides vertically through the bottom of a vessel. Also
attrib.| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 376/1 Captain Schank's vessel with three sliding keels beat the other vessel. 1802 Naval Chron. VII. 40 The idea of sliding keels is taken from the balza of South America. c 1850 Rudim. Nav. (Weale) 148 Sliding keels, an invention of..Captain Schank, of the Royal Navy, to prevent vessels being driven to leeward by a side wind. 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 251 ‘That one you saw was a cutter..,’ he replied. ‘Built on the sliding-keel principle.’ |
b. In various uses (see
quots.).
For
sliding-gunter (
Naut.) see gunter 2.
| 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxxi, As bold a smuggler as ever ran out a sliding bowsprit. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 34 The planks fitted under the bottom of the ship to descend with her upon the bilge-ways, are termed sliding planks, sliding baulks, or bilge coads. |
c. sliding seat, a seat in an outrigger which moves backwards and forwards with the action of the rower; also, a seat which can be slid out beyond the gunwale of a yacht.
| 1874 Ann. Reg., Chron. 36 The sliding seats, which were used for the first time in this race, must be pronounced a complete success. 1884 St. James' Gaz. 29 Mar. 6/1 University crews have rowed the course on sliding seats. 1895 Outing XXVI. 463 ‘Sliding-seats’ began to get longer and longer, until the champion sailed, not in his boat, but stretched entirely outside of it. |
8. a. sliding rule, a mathematical gauging or measuring instrument consisting of two graduated parts, one of which slides upon the other, and so arranged that when brought into proper juxtaposition the required result may be obtained by inspection. Now
usu. slide-rule,
q.v.| 1663 Pepys Diary 15 Apr., Reading of my book of Timber measure, comparing it with my new Sliding Rule. 1684 T. Everard (title), Stereometry made easie, or the description and use of a new gauging rod or sliding-rule. 1701 Moxon Math. Instr. 19 Sliding Rules, for gauging and measuring; ingeniously contrived and applied. 1798 Nicholson's Jrnl. I. 450 On the Advantage of inverting the Slider in many operations on the Common Sliding Rule. 1832 Brewster Nat. Magic xi. 294 The figures..were not exhibited to the eye as in sliding rules and similar instruments. 1895 Daily News 20 Nov. 9/4 A small sliding rule gives the value of any required number of shares at the above fractions at any necessary numerator. |
† b. So
sliding gauge,
sliding Gunter (see
quots.).
Obs.| 1683 Moxon Printing xii. iv, The Sliding Gage is..a Tool commonly used by Mathematical Instrument-Makers... Its Use is to measure and set off Distances between the Sholder and the Tooth, and to mark it off from the end, or else from the edge of your Work. 1701 ― Math. Instr. 18 Sliding Gunter, made of Box, with a middle piece that slides between 2 pieces, with Lines to answer Proportions by inspection: chiefly used by Mariners. 1727–41 [see gunter 1 b]. |
9. sliding scale:
a. A sliding rule.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sliding-Rules or Scales, are Mathematical Instruments [etc.]. 1788 Phil. Trans. LXXVIII. 126 A small thermometer with a sliding scale. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2210/2 Sliding-scale, a rule with a sliding member. |
b. A scale or standard (of payments, wages, etc.) which rises or falls in proportion to, or conversely to, the rise or fall of some other standard.
| 1842 C. Guest Jrnl. 14 Feb. (1950) vii. 129 His opinion that in times of scarcity the fixed duty he proposes would have to give way, which is exactly the argument the Tories use when advocating the sliding scale. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. iii, Neither do we ascertain what kind of Corn-bill he passed, or wisely-adjusted Sliding-scale. 1869 Rogers Hist. Glean. I. 183 The agricultural interest suffered{ddd}and we owed the latest sliding-scale to their importunities. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 226 Sliding Scale, a mode of regulating the amount of wages in mining districts by taking as a basis for calculation the market value of coal or iron. |
| attrib. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. xiv. (1876) 192 During the existence of the sliding-scale system of duties. 1882 Daily News 3 June 6/4 The leaping prizes..are arranged on a sliding-scale principle. |
10. a. sliding hernia (
Med.) (see
quot. 1958).
| 1910 Spencer & Gask Pract. Surg. xvii. 995 Retro⁓peritoneal hernia... The cæcum or sigmoid flexure may slide up and down behind the peritoneum, ‘Sliding hernia’, ‘Hernie par glissement’. 1936 Cole & Elman Textbk. Gen. Surg. xxv. 753 Sliding hernias descend so readily that a truss is rarely satisfactory in maintaining reduction. 1958 D. L. B. Farley in L. Oliver Basic Surg. xiii. 198 Hernia ‘en glissade’ (‘sliding’ hernia) refers to herniation of a viscus such as the cæcum or bladder which has an extraperitoneal surface. 1974 R. M. Kirk et al. Surgery vi. 78 Sliding hernia. If the lower oesophagus and cardia straighten out and slide into the chest, the competence of the cardiac sphincter may be impaired so that gastric contents reflux into the oesophagus. |
b. sliding filament (
Physiol.), used
attrib. to designate the model of the action of striated muscle in which contraction results from filaments of actin and of myosin sliding past one another.
| 1957 Jrnl. Biophys. & Biochem. Cytol. III. 640 The results which have been described above give full support to the ‘sliding filament model’ of striated muscle. 1973 Times 14 Aug. 14/7 This..provided the main basis for the ‘sliding filament’ theory of muscle contraction, now universally accepted. |
11. sliding parity (
Econ.)
= crawling peg s.v. crawling ppl. a. b.
| 1966 Economist 25 June 1440/2 A tiny minority advocates completely free exchange markets... Possibly a majority favours continued official intervention to set limits to market fluctuations... But an increasing minority favours a compromise system, variously called the crawling peg..or..the sliding parity. 1970 Times 9 Feb. 20/1 It sets out to demolish the arguments of those who are..downright hostile to the introduction of the so called sliding parity or crawling peg. |