slip
/ˈslɪp/ verb, noun
Forms slips slipping slipped slipt
- verb (intransitive) To lose one’s traction on a slippery surface; to slide due to a lack of friction.
- verb (intransitive) To err.
- verb (intransitive) To accidentally reveal a secret or otherwise say something unintentionally.
- verb (intransitive) To move or fly (out of place); to shoot; often with out, off, etc. “A bone may slip out of place.”
- verb (transitive) To elude or evade by smooth movement. “I caught the thief, but he slipped my grasp and ran away.”
- verb (transitive) To pass (a note, money, etc.), often covertly. “She thanked the porter and slipped a ten-dollar bill into his hand.”
- verb (transitive) To cause to move smoothly and quickly; to slide; to convey gently or secretly.
- verb (intransitive) To move quickly and often secretively; to depart, withdraw, enter, appear, intrude, or escape as if by sliding. “Some errors slipped into the appendix.”
- noun An act or instance of slipping. “I had a slip on the ice and bruised my hip.”
- noun A woman's undergarment worn under a skirt or dress to conceal unwanted nudity that may otherwise be revealed by the skirt or dress itself; a shift.
- noun A slipdress.
- noun A mistake or error. “a slip of the tongue”
- noun (nautical) A berth; a space for a ship to moor.
- noun (nautical, aviation) A difference between the theoretical distance traveled per revolution of the propeller and the actual advance of the vessel.
- noun (nautical) A slipway.
- noun (medicine) A one-time return to previous maladaptive behavior after cure.
- noun A twig or shoot; a cutting. “a slip from a vine”
- noun (obsolete) A descendant, a scion.
- noun A young person (now usually with of introducing descriptive qualifier). “She couldn't hurt a fly, young slip of a girl that she is.”
- noun A long, thin piece of something.
Synonyms
slink blooper blunder boo-boo defect error fault faux pas fluff gaffe lapse mistake stumble thinko solecism gaucherie slip-up miscue parapraxis cutting mooring moorage berth trip slickness slick slipperiness strip slip of paper chemise
Etymology
From Middle English slippen, probably from Middle Low German slippen, from Old Saxon *slippian, from Proto-West Germanic *slippjan, from Proto-Germanic *slipjaną (“to glide”), an iterative form of *slīpaną (“to slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to slide”). Possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), or related to Proto-Germanic *slībaną (“to split”); related to Old English slipor (“slippery”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian slipje (“to slip”), Dutch slippen (“to slip”), German Low German slippen.
Probably from Middle Dutch slippe or Middle Low German slippe, probably ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *slīban (“to split”).
From Middle English slyp, slep, slyppe, from Old English slyp, slyppe, slipa (“a viscous, slimy substance”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-West Germanic *sleupan, from Proto-Germanic *sleupaną (“to slip, sneak”), possibly connected with Proto-Indo-European *slewb-, *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to sneak, crawl”); or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *slippijaną (“to glide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyb- (“slimy; to glide”).
Compare Old English slūpan (“to slip, glide”), Old English cūslyppe, cūsloppe (“cowslip”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To move along the surface of a thing without bounding, rolling, or stepping; to slide; to glide.
- verb To slide; to lose one's footing or one's hold; not to tread firmly; as, it is necessary to walk carefully lest the foot should slip.
- verb To cause to move smoothly and quickly; to slide; to convey gently or secretly.
- verb To omit; to loose by negligence.
Etymology [OE. slippen; akin to LG. & D. slippen, MHG. slipfen (cf. Dan. slippe, Sw. slippa, Icel. sleppa), and fr. OE. slipen, AS. slipan (in comp.), akin to G. schleifen to slide, glide, drag, whet, OHG. slifan to slide, glide, make smooth, Icel. slipa to whet; cf. also AS. sl, Goth. sliupan, OS. slopian, OHG. sliofan, G. schliefen, schl, which seem to come from a somewhat different root form. Cf. Slope, n.]
Etymology [AS. slipe, slip.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “slip”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details