Lexic.us

Definition of Slippery

1. Adjective. Causing or tending to cause things to slip or slide. "The streets are still slippy from the rain"

2. Adjective. Not to be trusted. "How extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is"

Definition of Slippery

1. a. 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.

Definition of Slippery

1. Adjective. 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. ¹

2. Adjective. (figuratively by extension of a person) Evasive; difficult to pin down. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Slippery

1. causing or tending to cause slipping [adj -PERIER, -PERIEST]

Medical Definition of Slippery

1. 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 promise. "The 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. 5. Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle. "The slippery state of kings." 6. Uncertain in effect. 7. Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals. Slippery elm. An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself. A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); so called on the Pacific coast. See: Slipper. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Slippery

slipper spurge slippered slipperier slipperiest slipperily slipperiness slipperinesses slippering slipperings slipperless

slipperlike slipperness slippers slipperwort slipperworts slippery (current term) slippery as an eel slippery elm slippery jack slippery jacks

slippery slope slippery slopes slippier slippiest slippily slippiness slipping slipping patella slipping rib

Literary usage of Slippery

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Dictionary of the English Language: In which the Words are Deduced from ...by Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson (1805)
"slippery ; not firm. Obsolete. Perhaps never in use but for poetical convenience. ... They trim their feathers, which makes them oily and slippery, ..."

2. English Botany, Or, Coloured Figures of British Plants, with Their Essential by James Edward Smith, James Sowerby (1809)
"It grows on wood or stones, in floating masses, from a span to a foot long, of a fine slightly glaucous green, very gelatinous and slippery to the touch. ..."

3. Publications by Oxford Historical Society, Bostonian Society (1892)
"... wet fell after dinner, which made the streets so slippery that day and next day that the like was not knowne in the memory of man. ..."

4. Publications by Oxford Historical Society, Bostonian Society (1892)
"... wet fell after dinner, which made the streets so slippery that day and next day that the like was not knowne in the memory of man. ..."

5. The Complete Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott by Walter Scott (1900)
"... My love shall wrap her warm, And, fearless of the slippery way While safe she trips the heathy brae, 50 Shall hang on Arthur's arm. ..."

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