SLIPPERY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Slippery

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/slˈɪpəri/ /slˈɪpri/ Listen

adjective

Slippery adj.

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.

Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise. "The slippery tops of human state."

Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away. "The slippery god will try to loose his hold."

Liable to slip; not standing firm.

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

Uncertain in effect.

Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.

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.

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Etymology of 'Slippery'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Slippery" Quotes from Famous Books

... balls! The old way would have been to impose new taxes. But how could he tax a people crying at his gates for bread? He made more promises which he could not keep; yielded, one after another, concessions of authority and dignity; then vacillated, and tried to return over the slippery path, only to be dragged on again ...

— A Short History of France • Mary Platt Parmele

... that they must be determined before any real progress can be made, or any agreement arrived at in the Interpretation of Scripture." (p. 370.) ... They must indeed. But can it be right in this slovenly, slippery style to shirk a discussion on the issue of which the whole question may be said to turn? especially on the part of one who scruples not to prejudge that issue, and straightway to apply it, (in a manner fatal to the Truth,) throughout all his hundred pages. Mr. ...

— Inspiration and Interpretation - Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford • John Burgon

... the Fair Fount The reaper's pottage smokes. The fisher baits his angle; The hunter twangs his bow; Little they think on those strong limbs That moulder deep below. Little they think how sternly That day the trumpets pealed; How in the slippery swamp of blood Warrior and war-horse reeled; How wolves came with fierce gallops, And crows on eager wings, To tear the flesh of captains, And peck the eyes of kings; How thick the dead lay scattered ...

— Lays of Ancient Rome • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... 31.—Weather very disagreeable; snow six inches deep, and from rain and sleet and thaw and freeze, has formed a hard crust, so as to make bad traveling—in the roads icy and slippery. To-day cloudy, damp and cool. A few days ago the mercury reached 8 degrees below zero, the lowest of the season. It is very hard on stock, and many of the cattle are without shelter, as usual. Accept New Year greetings for all THE PRAIRIE ...

— Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 3, January 19, 1884. - A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside • Various

... came around every corner piercing and pinching to the bone. The walking was slippery; and though it was still early bedtime and the ruddy lamp-light filled the wet panes of some window every here and there, scarce a soul was stirring without, on horse or afoot, to be guided by ...

— Bonaventure - A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana • George Washington Cable

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