glide

[ glahyd ]
See synonyms for glide on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),glid·ed, glid·ing.
  1. to move smoothly and continuously along, as if without effort or resistance, as a flying bird, a boat, or a skater.

  2. to pass by gradual or unobservable change (often followed by along, away, by, etc.).

  1. to move quietly or stealthily or without being noticed (usually followed by in, out, along, etc.).

  2. Aeronautics.

    • to move in the air, especially at an easy angle downward, with less engine power than for level flight, solely by the action of air currents and gravity, or by momentum already acquired.

    • to fly in a glider.

  3. Music. to pass from one note to another without a break.

verb (used with object),glid·ed, glid·ing.
  1. to cause to glide.

noun
  1. a gliding movement, as in dancing.

  2. a dance marked by such movements.

  1. Phonetics.

    • a speech sound having the characteristics of both a consonant and a vowel, especially w in wore and y in your, and, in some analyses, r in road and l in load; semivowel.

    • a transitional sound heard during the articulation linking two phonemically contiguous sounds, as the y-sound often heard between the i and e of quiet.

  2. a calm stretch of shallow, smoothly flowing water, as in a river.

  3. an act or instance of gliding.

  4. Metallurgy. slip1 (def. 49).

  5. a smooth metal plate, as on the bottom of the feet of a chair or table, to facilitate moving and to prevent scarring of floor surfaces.

  6. a metal track in which a drawer, shelf, etc., moves in or out.

Origin of glide

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English gliden (verb), Old English glīdan; cognate with German gleiten

synonym study For glide

1. See slide.

Other words for glide

Opposites for glide

Other words from glide

  • glid·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·glid·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for glide

glide

/ (ɡlaɪd) /


verb
  1. to move or cause to move easily without jerks or hesitations: to glide in a boat down the river

  2. (intr) to pass slowly or without perceptible change: to glide into sleep

  1. to cause (an aircraft) to come into land without engine power, or (of an aircraft) to land in this way

  2. (intr) to fly a glider

  3. (intr) music to execute a portamento from one note to another

  4. (intr) phonetics to produce a glide

noun
  1. a smooth easy movement

    • any of various dances featuring gliding steps

    • a step in such a dance

  1. a manoeuvre in which an aircraft makes a gentle descent without engine power: See also glide path

  2. the act or process of gliding

  3. music

    • a long portion of tubing slipped in and out of a trombone to increase its length for the production of lower harmonic series: See also valve (def. 5)

    • a portamento or slur

  4. phonetics

    • a transitional sound as the speech organs pass from the articulatory position of one speech sound to that of the next, as the (w) sound in some pronunciations of the word doing

    • another word for semivowel

  5. crystallog another name for slip 1 (def. 33)

  6. cricket another word for glance 1 (def. 11)

Origin of glide

1
Old English glīdan; related to Old High German glītan

Derived forms of glide

  • glidingly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012