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slippery - 4 dictionary results

slip⋅per⋅y

  [slip-uh-ree, slip-ree]
Use slippery in a Sentence
–adjective, -per⋅i⋅er, -per⋅i⋅est.
1. tending or liable to cause slipping or sliding, as ice, oil, a wet surface, etc.: a slippery road.
2. tending to slip from the hold or grasp or from position: a slippery rope.
3. likely to slip away or escape: slippery prospects.
4. not to be depended on; fickle; shifty, tricky, or deceitful.
5. unstable or insecure, as conditions: a slippery situation.
Origin:
1525–35; alter. of slipper 2 ; cf. LG slipperig; see -y 1

Related forms:
slip⋅per⋅i⋅ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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slip·per·y   (slĭp'ə-rē)   
adj.   slip·per·i·er, slip·per·i·est
  1. Causing or tending to cause sliding or slipping: a slippery sidewalk.
  2. Tending to slip, as from one's grasp: a slippery bar of soap.
  3. Not trustworthy; elusive or tricky: "How extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is" (James Agee).

[Alteration of obsolete slipper, from Middle English, from Old English slipor; see lei- in Indo-European roots.]
slip'per·i·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slippery

Slip"per*y\, a. [See Slipper, a.]

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. --Shak.

5. Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle. "The slippery state of kings." --Denham.

6. Uncertain in effect. --L'Estrange.

7. Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals. --Shak.

Slippery elm. (Bot.) (a) An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself. (b) A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); -- so called on the Pacific coast.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : slippery
Spanish: resbaladizo, resbaloso,
German: glatt,
Japanese: すべりやすい
More Translations »

slippery 
1535, from slip (v.) (cf. O.E. slipor "slippery"). Metaphoric sense of "deceitful" is first recorded 1555; slippery slope first attested 1951.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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