▪ I. slippy, a.1
(ˈslɪpɪ)
Also 6 slyppie, 6–7 slippie.
[f. slip v.1 + -y1; cf. MHG. slipfec, -ig, obs. G. schlipfig. Not directly connected with OE. slipiᵹ viscid.]
1. = slippery a., in various lit. and fig. senses.
| (a) 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 154 It pleased him..to mocke the glory of this worlde, shewing howe vaine it is and howe slippie to trust to. Ibid. 1 Tim. iii. 11 Not bablers, or women of slyppie credence. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss. s.v., ‘A slippy chap,’ an unfair dealer, in whom is no confidence or security. |
| (b) a 1618 J. Davies (Heref.) Wit's Pilgr. ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 6 From it (being moist, and slippie) she doth slipp, To thy faire Teeth. 1658 J. Jones Ovid's Ibis 79 Because the waters ebb and flow the sand Is slippy. 1772 J. R. Forster Kalm's Trav. II. 132 The side of the bark which has been upon the wood..is smooth and slippy. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz (1837) III. 313 Those slippy, shiny-looking wooden chairs peculiar to places of this description. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. xi. 352 Turning short, particularly in slippy weather. 1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. 166 The hill was steep, and whortle-berry bushes slippy to the feet. |
2. dial. or colloq. Of persons: Nimble, spry; sharp, quick; esp. in phr. to be slippy or look slippy.
| 1847 Halliw., Slippy, very quick. Var. dial. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., Come, be slippy. 1885 J. Runciman Skippers & Shellbacks 212, I don't know what may happen, so you'll have to look slippy. 1889 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms (1890) 30 Get out the lot we've just branded,..and just slippy. 1915 [see buck-rabbit s.v. buck n.1 3]. 1924 D. Moore Fen's First Term i. 4 There is a hurry... Go and change and look slippy. 1972 Wodehouse Pearls, Girls, & Monty Bodkin xi. 178 Both of you get out of the car... And make it slippy, because I haven't got all day. |
3. Mining. (See quot.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 227 Slippy Backs, vertical planes of cleavage occurring every four or five inches in the seam of coal. |
▪ II. slippy, a.2
(ˈslɪpɪ)
[f. slip n.2 + -y1.]
Slim; slender.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 12 May 4/1 Mdlle. Julie has a slight, slippy figure. 1892 Daily News 6 June 2/2 This tall, lithe, slippy figure has much in common with the graceful reeds which bend all round about her. |