slipped

Variant of slip

slip definition

slip (slip)

intransitive verb slipped, slipping slip′·ping

  1. to go quietly or secretly; move without attracting notice to slip out of a room
    1. to go, move, pass, etc. smoothly, quickly, or easily
    2. to get (into or out of clothes) quickly
    3. to go imperceptibly; pass unmarked time slipped by
  2. to pass gradually into or out of some condition, activity, habit, opinion, etc. to slip off to sleep
  3. to escape or pass from a person's memory, mind, power, grasp, etc. to let a chance slip by
  4. to move out of place by sliding; shift or slide from position a napkin slipping from one's lap
  5. to slide accidentally on a slippery surface, lose footing, etc.
  6. to make a mistake; fall into error; err
  7. to become worse; lose strength, ability, mental keenness, etc.
  8. to decline slightly; fall off a slipping market
  9. Aeron. sideslip

Etymology: ME slippen < MLowG, akin to OHG slifan < IE *(s)leib-, to glide, slip < base *(s)lei-, slimy: see slide

transitive verb

  1. to cause to slip or move with a smooth, sliding motion
  2. to put (on) or take (off) quickly or easily, as an article of clothing
  3. to put, pass, insert, etc. quickly, deftly, or stealthily to slip a pill into one's mouth, to slip in a cutting remark
    1. to escape or pass from (the mind or memory)
    2. Now Rare to let pass unheeded; overlook; miss
  4. to get loose or away from (a restraint, pursuer, etc.); become free of the dog slipped its leash
  5. to let loose (hounds) to pursue game
  6. to transfer (a stitch) from one needle to another without knitting it, as in forming patterns in, or decreasing the width of, a knitted piece
  7. to slink (a fetus)
  8. to put out of joint; dislocate
  9. Naut. to free an anchored ship from (the anchor) by parting or unshackling the cable

noun

    1. a pier or platform sloping into the water to serve as a landing place
    2. an inclined plane leading down to water, on which ships are built or repaired
    3. ☆ a water channel between piers or wharves, used for the docking of ships
  1. the difference between the distance moved by a vessel and the distance it would move if the propeller were advancing through a soft solid instead of mobile water; lost motion of a propeller
  2. a leash for a dog made so that it can be released quickly
    1. a woman's sleeveless undergarment the same length as a dress, usually suspended from shoulder straps
    2. a petticoat or half slip
  3. a cloth cover for a pillow
  4. an act of slipping, sliding, or falling down
  5. a deviation or turning aside, esp. from a practice, course of conduct, etc. considered right
  6. an error or mistake, esp. one made inadvertently in speaking, writing, etc.
  7. an accident or mishap
  8. the amount or degree of operative inefficiency of a mechanical device, expressed in terms of the difference between theoretical and actual output
  9. movement of one part upon another, usually where no movement is meant to exist; play
  10. Aeron. sideslip
  11. Cricket a fielder placed behind the wickets on the off side of the batter
  12. Geol.
    1. any movement displacing parts of rock or soil masses in relation to one another; small fault or landslide
    2. a smooth surface or joint where such movement has taken place
  13. Metallurgy the process by which plastic deformation is produced in metal crystals by one part of a crystal moving in relation to another, usually in a particular crystallographic plane
slip Idioms

give someone the slip

to evade or escape from someone

let slip

to say or tell without intending to

slip one over on

Informal to trick; hoodwink; cheat

slip up

to make a mistake; be in error

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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