slippery

slippery, a.
  (ˈslɪpərɪ)
  Also 6 slypery, slepery, 6–7 slyppery, slipperie; 7 sliperye.
  [Alteration of slipper a., possibly after LG. slipperig (G. dial. schlipperig), = MHG. slipferic, slipfrig (G. dial. schlipferig).]
  1. a. Having a smooth, polished, or slimy surface which renders foothold insecure.

1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxiv. 6 Let their waye be darcke and slippery. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. v. 43 But foolish Mayd..Through slipperie footing fell into the brooke. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 65 The Riuer rough with many great and slipperie stones. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 168 Many steep and slippery places to be climb'd up. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. II. lii. 73 The descent is..steep and slippery. 1779 Fletcher Lett. Wks. 1795 VII. 226, I..ride out every day when the slippery roads will permit me. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxi, Forming a slippery and precarious passage for two men abreast to cross the moat. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) iii. 79 The rocks were steep and slippery.

  b. In fig. contexts.

a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1605) 235 The ground he stood vpon being..slippery through affection, he could not hold himselfe from falling into such an error. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 631 Bloud is a slippery foundation, and pillage a pill'd wall. 1654 Z. Coke Logick Pref., Greatness without goodness is a slippery height. 1707 J. Norris Treat. Humility x. 396 The more slippery the ground is, the more circumspectly should we walk. 1789 Belsham Ess. I. vii. 132 [He] will find the ground upon which he stands very unstable and slippery. 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i. 135 Does it disappoint thee To find there is a slipperier step or two Than what was counted on? 1889 Gretton Memory's Harkback 273 He speedily made his mark, and climbed higher and higher up the slippery tree.

  c. slippery slope fig., a course leading to disaster or destruction.

1951 J. Fleming Man who looked Back x. 132 You go off down the slippery slope; it'll do you good. 1964 Daily Tel. 6 Jan. 12/2 While Western feet thus approach what some fear may be a ‘slippery slope’ towards recognition of the East, Ulbricht's ground seems as firm as ever it was. 1979 N. Lash Theology on Dover Beach iv. 74 It could be argued..that to give priority to love, to trust, to action, to commitment, is to start down the slippery slope along which rationality, objectivity and—eventually—truth are abandoned.

  2. a. Of a soft oily or greasy consistency; having a smooth surface, so as to slip or slide easily; slipping readily from any hold or grasp.

1551 Turner Herbal i. B i, The hole herbe is very sleymy and full of a slepery iuice [pr. -nuce]. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 84 b, The chiefest that is marked in the Ele is that it is slipperie. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 151 A good strong Lixivium made with fresh water and ashes till it be slipperie. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 88 The Line..being rubbed over with soft Sope to make it slippery. 1738 J. Keill Anim. Œcon. Pref. (ed. 2) p. x, The different Junctures of the Bones,..which are slippery and exceedingly moveable. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) III. 869 Leaf oblong, indented, slippery. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 215 The maiden dreamt That..this diamond..was too slippery to be held. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xc. 6 Melting lapt in flame fatly the slippery caul.

  b. Of persons: Able to slip away or escape easily; difficult to catch or hold.

1573 G. Harvey Lett. Bk. (Camden) 126 Mye very mistrisse..Moughte yit be woon agayne, like a slippery elfe. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 13 Harvey was with her there, And held this slippery Proteus in a chain. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 586 The slipp'ry God will try to loose his hold. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 204 Before he could seize him, however, the slippery savage, eluding his grasp, was bounding through the trees.

  † c. Of the bowels: Lax, loose, open. Obs.

1597 Gerarde Herbal 242 By moistning of the belly it maketh it the more slipperie. 1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. ii. (1734) 129 Cinnabar of Antimony..seldom keeps the Bowels slippery.

  d. slippery elm, the North American red elm, Ulmus fulva, or the inner bark of this, used medicinally; also, a Californian shrub, Fremontia Californica, with similar bark. Cf. red elm s.v. red a. 17 d.

1748 D. Drake Let. 1 Jan. in Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) iv. 73 Of the whole forest the red or slippery elm was the best. 1780 W. Fleming Jrnl. 20 Mar. in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Colonies (1916) 640 Bear fat is preserved sweet and pure by putting in a bunch of the Slippery Elem [sic] bark into it when rendering. 1810 [see moose elm s.v. moose1 b]. 1824 Torrey Flora U.S. I. 299 Slippery Elm, Red Elm. 1879 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 152 The bark of..the Slippery or Red Elm of the United States and Canada.

  e. In names of fishes: (see quots.).

1876 Goode Fishes of Bermudas 48 The ‘Slippery Dick’ and the ‘Skip-jack’ of the fishermen probably belong to this family. 1881 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. I. 318 Whistler or whistle-fish,..slippery-Jemmy, Dalkey, Dublin Bay. 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 188 The Slippery Sole—Glyptocephalus pacificus.

  3. a. Of conditions, affairs, etc.: Unstable, uncertain, insecure; that cannot be relied upon as lasting or assured. (Cf. 1 b.)

1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Peter 2 Rewardes that are transitory and wage that is slyppery. 1573 G. Harvey Lett. Bk. (Camden) 1 In so slipperi a case as I am, I am enforcid to do as I do. c 1617 Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 13 Were not this high estate of his very slipperye, and subject to sudden destruction. 1632 Strafford in Browning & Forster Life (1891) 302 To hold him faste by the sliperye ties of feare and strained professions. 1704 Trapp Abra-Mulé i. i, O slipp'ry State Of Human pleasures. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. (ed. 2) 341 That their future fidelity in a slippery concern might be established. 1855 Bain Senses & Intell. iii. ii. §37 The logical Caution..is still more requisite in the slippery regions of Analogy. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Politics (1876) 24 An aggregate of families owning even a slippery allegiance to a single head.

  † b. Of knowledge: Inexact, imperfect. Obs.^—1

1584 B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 81 b, Not contented with a slippery knowledge, but mooued with desire to learne the truth.

  4. a. Of persons: Inclined to be fickle or faithless; not to be depended on; shifty, deceitful.

1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 100 note, Women are slippery cattayle. 1590 Greene Never too Late Wks. (Grosart) VIII. 26 Some of them are as Sapho was, subtile to allure, and slippery to deceiue. 1618 Bolton Florus iii. i. 164 That most false and slippery man..was betrayed into the hands of Sulla. 1679 Oates Narr. Popish Plot 10 But the Deponent standing by, said, what if the Duke should prove slippery! 1753 Foote Englishm. in Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 35 He's a slippery chap, you know. 1805 Scott in Lockhart 12 Apr., He is hard and slippery, so settle your bargain fast and firm. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 248 By degrees this slippery penitent was induced to make other confessions. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxii. 378 The slippery politicians in the capital were on the watch.

  b. Of actions, etc.: Characterized by shiftiness, deceitfulness, or want of sincerity.

1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 200 Long time he vsed this slippery pranck. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 43 She Will one day shew thee a touch as slippery. 1664 Cotton Scarron. iv. (1715) 83 Th' slippery Trick he meant to play her. 1713 J. Warder True Amazons 142 Not knowing what a slippery Trick you have play'd them. 1861 Thackeray Four Georges iii. (1876) 84 He exercised a slippery perseverance, and a vindictive resolution. 1872 M. Creighton Hist. Ess. ii. (1902) 84 Some..refer all his slippery actions to a sincere desire for the good of Christendom.

  c. Prov. phr. as slippery as an eel. Cf. eel 1 c.

[c 1412 Hoccleve Reg. Princes (1897) 1985 Mi wit is also slipir as an eel. 1562: see slipper a. 1 b.] 1601 Holland tr. Pliny's Nat. Hist. I. ix. xx. 247 All that be long and slipperie as Yeels and Congres. 1622 S. Rowlands Good Newes & Bad Newes sig. B1v, Fie vpon giddie Fortune, and her wheele, Vnconstant, and as slipperie as an Eele. 1739–40 Richardson Pamela (1740) I. 245 You'll find her as slippery as an eel, I'll assure you. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. I. xvii. 209 He's as slippery as an eel, he is. He's like a cat,—as sleek, and cunning. 1914 T. Dreiser Titan xxvi. 220, I am morally certain he uses money to get what he is after as freely as a fireman uses water. He's as slippery as an eel. 1980 J. Gardner Garden of Weapons ii. i. 128 He's big, but slippery as an eel.

  5. Licentious, wanton, unchaste; of doubtful morality.

1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 478 He shall cause hir..to become slipperie & lascivious. 1592 Greene Disput. 33, I giue thee..a counterfect coyne, which is good inough for such a slipperie wanton. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 273 Ha' not you seene Camillo?..or heard?..or thought?.. My Wife is slipperie? 1738 tr. Guazzo's Art Convers. 54 She began to tell the slippery Pranks of the Dutchess's Gentlewomen. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxi. 135 A slippery Love calls lightly, but yet refrain. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 48 Unnecessary and slippery luxuries, such as drink and tobacco.

  6. Liable or prone to slip; readily giving way. Also of the memory, forgetful.

1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. 1st Ep. Timothy 14 The vowe of continencie is not to be committed vnto fraile slypperye age. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 63 Leaste I shulde bestowe my slippery yeares in vnprofitable Idlenesse. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 84 When they fall, as being slippery standers [etc.]. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 107 The party is a vain babler, perfidious, and of a slippery memory. 1664 Evelyn Sylva xviii. (1729) 86 This profound fixing of Aquatick-trees being to preserve them steddy..in their liquid and slippery Foundations.

  7. Of the tongue: Talking too freely.

1727 Boyer Dict. Royal ii, A slippery (or free) Tongue, une Langue trop-libre, qui dit tout, qui ne cache rien.

  8. look slippery = look slippy s.v. slippy a.¹ 2. dial. or colloq. rare.

1922 Joyce Ulysses 418 Two Ardilauns. Same here. Look slippery.

  9. quasi-adv. Smartly, closely.

1828 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 19, I found him in the yard, looking pretty slippery after the strappers.

  10. Comb., as slippery-bellied, slippery-breeched, slippery-footed, slippery-shod, slippery-tongued; also slippery-looking, slippery-sleek; slippery-back, a West Indian skink (Cent. Dict.); slippery hitch Naut., a knot made fast by catching part of the rope beneath the bight, released at a pull on the free end; also fig.; slippery pole = greasy pole s.v. greasy a. 9 (in quots. fig.); Slippery Sam, a card-game (cf. blind-hookey s.v. blind a. 16).

1852 ‘Nightlark’ Meanderings Mem. I. 64 Thou silvery-backed, and *slippery-bellied Eel.

1611 L. Barry Ram Alley iv. i, She is shewing Some *slippery breech'd courtier rare faces In a bay-window.

1903 *Slippery-footed [see hot-foot v.].

1832 *Slippery hitch [see hitch n. 6 b]. 1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life vii. 273 Alf, it appeared, had left the station six or eight weeks before, bound for no-one knew where. Jack's opinion was that in so doing he had made a slippery-hitch. 1944 C. W. Ashley Bk. Knots i. 19 The Slippery Hitch is often found in the sheets and halyards of small boats.

1903 Sir M. G. Gerard Leaves fr. Diaries viii. 262 The only approach to these is by a *slippery-looking pathway.

1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 20/1 The Voice had this wonderfully sobering policy of rejecting your stories right when you thought you had a firm grasp on the *slippery pole. 1977 H. Greene FSO-1 xviii. 167 All of these years of clambering up the slippery pole only to find there was no top to it.

1923 L. H. Dawson Hoyle's Games Modernized i. 162 *Slippery Sam is a variation of and by many considered an improvement on Blind Hookey. 1954 A. S. C. Ross in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen LV. 22 Solo whist..is non-U, though much ‘lower’ games (e.g. pontoon, nap and even slippery sam) are not necessarily so. 1978 C. Storr Winter's End iv. 58 The others were exclaiming and shouting at Racing Demon... They'd changed to Slippery Sam.

1682 O. Heywood Diaries (1885) IV. 85 It was a frost and snow, my horse *slippery shod.

a 1618 Sylvester Map of Man Wks. (Grosart) II. 97 Though shee simper, though shee smile,..Shee is alwayes *slippery-sleeke.

1843 A. Bethune Sc. Peasant's Stor. 299 By and by evidence began to appear of Jock's being tarry-fingered as well as *slippery-tongued.

  
  
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   Add: [1.] d. Of a vehicle or its shape: creating only low air resistance; streamlined. colloq.

1981 Pop. Hot Rodding Feb. 88/1 The reason for the tremendous gain in speed is the Monza's very slippery shape and small frontal area. 1982 Observer 31 Jan. 44/6 The new shape is obviously very slippery—the makers give a drag coefficient of 0.34. 1985 Austral. Business 4 Sept. 82/1 The company now has the world's three most aerodynamically efficient cars. The Audi, the Renault 25 and now the Vortex are the ‘slipperiest’ cars around. 1986 H. I. Andrews Railway Traction iv. 78 This difference is well known to drivers, who are accustomed to describe one type of locomotive as more slippery than another.

Oxford English Dictionary