| 释义 |
slippery, a.|ˈslɪpərɪ|
Also 6 slypery, slepery, 6–7 slyppery, slipperie; 7 sliperye.
[Alteration of slipper a., possibly after LG. slipperig (G. dial. schlipperig), = MHG. slipferic, slipfrig (G. dial. schlipferig).]
1. a. Having a smooth, polished, or slimy surface which renders foothold insecure.
1535Coverdale Ps. xxxiv. 6 Let their waye be darcke and slippery. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 43 But foolish Mayd..Through slipperie footing fell into the brooke. 1623Bingham Xenophon 65 The Riuer rough with many great and slipperie stones. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 168 Many steep and slippery places to be climb'd up. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. II. lii. 73 The descent is..steep and slippery. 1779Fletcher Lett. Wks. 1795 VII. 226, I..ride out every day when the slippery roads will permit me. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxi, Forming a slippery and precarious passage for two men abreast to cross the moat. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) iii. 79 The rocks were steep and slippery.
b. In fig. contexts.
a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. (1605) 235 The ground he stood vpon being..slippery through affection, he could not hold himselfe from falling into such an error. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 631 Bloud is a slippery foundation, and pillage a pill'd wall. 1654Z. Coke Logick Pref., Greatness without goodness is a slippery height. 1707J. Norris Treat. Humility x. 396 The more slippery the ground is, the more circumspectly should we walk. 1789Belsham Ess. I. vii. 132 [He] will find the ground upon which he stands very unstable and slippery. 1821Byron Sardan. ii. i. 135 Does it disappoint thee To find there is a slipperier step or two Than what was counted on? 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 273 He speedily made his mark, and climbed higher and higher up the slippery tree.
c. slippery slope fig., a course leading to disaster or destruction.
1951J. Fleming Man who looked Back x. 132 You go off down the slippery slope; it'll do you good. 1964Daily Tel. 6 Jan. 12/2 While Western feet thus approach what some fear may be a ‘slippery slope’ towards recognition of the East, Ulbricht's ground seems as firm as ever it was. 1979N. Lash Theology on Dover Beach iv. 74 It could be argued..that to give priority to love, to trust, to action, to commitment, is to start down the slippery slope along which rationality, objectivity and—eventually—truth are abandoned.
2. a. Of a soft oily or greasy consistency; having a smooth surface, so as to slip or slide easily; slipping readily from any hold or grasp.
1551Turner Herbal i. B i, The hole herbe is very sleymy and full of a slepery iuice [pr. -nuce]. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 84 b, The chiefest that is marked in the Ele is that it is slipperie. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 151 A good strong Lixivium made with fresh water and ashes till it be slipperie. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 88 The Line..being rubbed over with soft Sope to make it slippery. 1738J. Keill Anim. Œcon. Pref. (ed. 2) p. x, The different Junctures of the Bones,..which are slippery and exceedingly moveable. 1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) III. 869 Leaf oblong, indented, slippery. 1859Tennyson Elaine 215 The maiden dreamt That..this diamond..was too slippery to be held. 1871R. Ellis Catullus xc. 6 Melting lapt in flame fatly the slippery caul.
b. Of persons: Able to slip away or escape easily; difficult to catch or hold.
1573G. Harvey Lett. Bk. (Camden) 126 Mye very mistrisse..Moughte yit be woon agayne, like a slippery elfe. 1663Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 13 Harvey was with her there, And held this slippery Proteus in a chain. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 586 The slipp'ry God will try to loose his hold. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 204 Before he could seize him, however, the slippery savage, eluding his grasp, was bounding through the trees.
†c. Of the bowels: Lax, loose, open. Obs.
1597Gerarde Herbal 242 By moistning of the belly it maketh it the more slipperie. 1733G. Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. ii. (1734) 129 Cinnabar of Antimony..seldom keeps the Bowels slippery.
d. slippery elm, the North American red elm, Ulmus fulva, or the inner bark of this, used medicinally; also, a Californian shrub, Fremontia Californica, with similar bark. Cf. red elm s.v. red a. 17 d.
1748D. Drake Let. 1 Jan. in Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) iv. 73 Of the whole forest the red or slippery elm was the best. 1780W. Fleming Jrnl. 20 Mar. in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Colonies (1916) 640 Bear fat is preserved sweet and pure by putting in a bunch of the Slippery Elem [sic] bark into it when rendering. 1810[see moose elm s.v. moose1 b]. 1824Torrey Flora U.S. I. 299 Slippery Elm, Red Elm. 1879Encycl. Brit. VIII. 152 The bark of..the Slippery or Red Elm of the United States and Canada.
e. In names of fishes: (see quots.).
1876Goode Fishes of Bermudas 48 The ‘Slippery Dick’ and the ‘Skip-jack’ of the fishermen probably belong to this family. 1881Day Fishes Gt. Brit. I. 318 Whistler or whistle-fish,..slippery-Jemmy, Dalkey, Dublin Bay. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 188 The Slippery Sole—Glyptocephalus pacificus.
3. a. Of conditions, affairs, etc.: Unstable, uncertain, insecure; that cannot be relied upon as lasting or assured. (Cf. 1 b.)
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Peter 2 Rewardes that are transitory and wage that is slyppery. 1573G. Harvey Lett. Bk. (Camden) 1 In so slipperi a case as I am, I am enforcid to do as I do. c1617Moryson Itin. iv. (1903) 13 Were not this high estate of his very slipperye, and subject to sudden destruction. 1632Strafford in Browning & Forster Life (1891) 302 To hold him faste by the sliperye ties of feare and strained professions. 1704Trapp Abra-Mulé i. i, O slipp'ry State Of Human pleasures. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. (ed. 2) 341 That their future fidelity in a slippery concern might be established. 1855Bain Senses & Intell. iii. ii. §37 The logical Caution..is still more requisite in the slippery regions of Analogy. 1872Bagehot Physics & Politics (1876) 24 An aggregate of families owning even a slippery allegiance to a single head.
†b. Of knowledge: Inexact, imperfect. Obs.—1
1584B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 81 b, Not contented with a slippery knowledge, but mooued with desire to learne the truth.
4. a. Of persons: Inclined to be fickle or faithless; not to be depended on; shifty, deceitful.
1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 100 note, Women are slippery cattayle. 1590Greene Never too Late Wks. (Grosart) VIII. 26 Some of them are as Sapho was, subtile to allure, and slippery to deceiue. 1618Bolton Florus iii. i. 164 That most false and slippery man..was betrayed into the hands of Sulla. 1679Oates Narr. Popish Plot 10 But the Deponent standing by, said, what if the Duke should prove slippery! 1753Foote Englishm. in Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 35 He's a slippery chap, you know. 1805Scott in Lockhart 12 Apr., He is hard and slippery, so settle your bargain fast and firm. 1855Thackeray Newcomes I. 248 By degrees this slippery penitent was induced to make other confessions. 1879Froude Cæsar xxii. 378 The slippery politicians in the capital were on the watch.
b. Of actions, etc.: Characterized by shiftiness, deceitfulness, or want of sincerity.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 200 Long time he vsed this slippery pranck. 1598E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 43 She Will one day shew thee a touch as slippery. 1664Cotton Scarron. iv. (1715) 83 Th' slippery Trick he meant to play her. 1713J. Warder True Amazons 142 Not knowing what a slippery Trick you have play'd them. 1861Thackeray Four Georges iii. (1876) 84 He exercised a slippery perseverance, and a vindictive resolution. 1872M. Creighton Hist. Ess. ii. (1902) 84 Some..refer all his slippery actions to a sincere desire for the good of Christendom.
c. Prov. phr. as slippery as an eel. Cf. eel 1 c.
[c1412Hoccleve Reg. Princes (1897) 1985 Mi wit is also slipir as an eel. 1562: see slipper a. 1 b.] 1601Holland tr. Pliny's Nat. Hist. I. ix. xx. 247 All that be long and slipperie as Yeels and Congres. 1622S. Rowlands Good Newes & Bad Newes sig. B1v, Fie vpon giddie Fortune, and her wheele, Vnconstant, and as slipperie as an Eele. 1739–40Richardson Pamela (1740) I. 245 You'll find her as slippery as an eel, I'll assure you. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. I. xvii. 209 He's as slippery as an eel, he is. He's like a cat,—as sleek, and cunning. 1914T. Dreiser Titan xxvi. 220, I am morally certain he uses money to get what he is after as freely as a fireman uses water. He's as slippery as an eel. 1980J. Gardner Garden of Weapons ii. i. 128 He's big, but slippery as an eel.
5. Licentious, wanton, unchaste; of doubtful morality.
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. (1594) 478 He shall cause hir..to become slipperie & lascivious. 1592Greene Disput. 33, I giue thee..a counterfect coyne, which is good inough for such a slipperie wanton. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 273 Ha' not you seene Camillo?..or heard?..or thought?.. My Wife is slipperie? 1738tr. Guazzo's Art Convers. 54 She began to tell the slippery Pranks of the Dutchess's Gentlewomen. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxi. 135 A slippery Love calls lightly, but yet refrain. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 48 Unnecessary and slippery luxuries, such as drink and tobacco.
6. Liable or prone to slip; readily giving way. Also of the memory, forgetful.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. 1st Ep. Timothy 14 The vowe of continencie is not to be committed vnto fraile slypperye age. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 63 Leaste I shulde bestowe my slippery yeares in vnprofitable Idlenesse. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 84 When they fall, as being slippery standers [etc.]. 1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 107 The party is a vain babler, perfidious, and of a slippery memory. 1664Evelyn Sylva xviii. (1729) 86 This profound fixing of Aquatick-trees being to preserve them steddy..in their liquid and slippery Foundations.
7. Of the tongue: Talking too freely.
1727Boyer Dict. Royal ii, A slippery (or free) Tongue, une Langue trop-libre, qui dit tout, qui ne cache rien.
8. look slippery = look slippy s.v. slippy a.1 2. dial. or colloq. rare.
1922Joyce Ulysses 418 Two Ardilauns. Same here. Look slippery.
9. quasi-adv. Smartly, closely.
1828Sporting Mag. XXIII. 19, I found him in the yard, looking pretty slippery after the strappers.
10. Comb., as slippery-bellied, slippery-breeched, slippery-footed, slippery-shod, slippery-tongued; also slippery-looking, slippery-sleek; slippery-back, a West Indian skink (Cent. Dict.); slippery hitch Naut., a knot made fast by catching part of the rope beneath the bight, released at a pull on the free end; also fig.; slippery pole = greasy pole s.v. greasy a. 9 (in quots. fig.); Slippery Sam, a card-game (cf. blind-hookey s.v. blind a. 16).
1852‘Nightlark’ Meanderings Mem. I. 64 Thou silvery-backed, and *slippery-bellied Eel.
1611L. Barry Ram Alley iv. i, She is shewing Some *slippery breech'd courtier rare faces In a bay-window.
1903*Slippery-footed [see hot-foot v.].
1832*Slippery hitch [see hitch n. 6 b]. 1903‘T. Collins’ Such is Life vii. 273 Alf, it appeared, had left the station six or eight weeks before, bound for no-one knew where. Jack's opinion was that in so doing he had made a slippery-hitch. 1944C. W. Ashley Bk. Knots i. 19 The Slippery Hitch is often found in the sheets and halyards of small boats.
1903Sir M. G. Gerard Leaves fr. Diaries viii. 262 The only approach to these is by a *slippery-looking pathway.
1972Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 20/1 The Voice had this wonderfully sobering policy of rejecting your stories right when you thought you had a firm grasp on the *slippery pole. 1977H. Greene FSO-1 xviii. 167 All of these years of clambering up the slippery pole only to find there was no top to it.
1923L. H. Dawson Hoyle's Games Modernized i. 162 *Slippery Sam is a variation of and by many considered an improvement on Blind Hookey. 1954A. S. C. Ross in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen LV. 22 Solo whist..is non-U, though much ‘lower’ games (e.g. pontoon, nap and even slippery sam) are not necessarily so. 1978C. Storr Winter's End iv. 58 The others were exclaiming and shouting at Racing Demon... They'd changed to Slippery Sam.
1682O. Heywood Diaries (1885) IV. 85 It was a frost and snow, my horse *slippery shod.
a1618Sylvester Map of Man Wks. (Grosart) II. 97 Though shee simper, though shee smile,..Shee is alwayes *slippery-sleeke.
1843A. Bethune Sc. Peasant's Stor. 299 By and by evidence began to appear of Jock's being tarry-fingered as well as *slippery-tongued.
Add:[1.] d. Of a vehicle or its shape: creating only low air resistance; streamlined. colloq.
1981Pop. Hot Rodding Feb. 88/1 The reason for the tremendous gain in speed is the Monza's very slippery shape and small frontal area. 1982Observer 31 Jan. 44/6 The new shape is obviously very slippery—the makers give a drag coefficient of 0.34. 1985Austral. Business 4 Sept. 82/1 The company now has the world's three most aerodynamically efficient cars. The Audi, the Renault 25 and now the Vortex are the ‘slipperiest’ cars around. 1986H. I. Andrews Railway Traction iv. 78 This difference is well known to drivers, who are accustomed to describe one type of locomotive as more slippery than another. |