slip-stringn.
Now dialect.
One who deserves to be hanged; a rogue or rascal, a shifty person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > roguery > rogue > [noun] > worthy of hanging
wickhals?a1400
crack-rope?a1500
stretch-hemp1532
man of death1535
slip-string1546
waghalter1546
hang-rope1570
rope-ripe1570
crack-halter1573
hempstring1573
wag-string1578
stretch-halter1583
gallows1598
halter-sack1598
wag-with1611
roper1615
gallows-climber1668
hang-string1675
gallows-face1725
gallows-bird1785
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [noun] > rogue, knave, or rascal > worthy of hanging
wickhals?a1400
crack-rope?a1500
widdieneck?a1500
widdiefu?a1513
thevis neka1525
stretch-hemp1532
man of death1535
slip-string1546
waghalter1546
ropeful1567
gallows-clapper1570
hang-rope1570
rope-ripe1570
crack-halter1573
hempstring1573
wag-string1578
stretch-halter1583
gallows1598
halter-sack1598
wag-with1611
crack-hempa1616
roper1615
halter-sick1617
gallows-climber1668
hang-string1675
hempy1718
gallows-face1725
gallows-bird1785
hang-gallows1785
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vii. sig. Kv Euery good thyng, Thou lettest euen slyp, like a wag halter slypstryng.
1573 G. Gascoigne tr. Ariosto Supposes iii. i, in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 25 If he spie a slipstring by the waye such another as himself, a Page, a Lackie or a dwarfe.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. G2 She not only gaue me the slip, but had welnie made me a slipstring.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Pendardeau, a little crackrope, young slipstring.
a1641 T. Heywood Captives (1953) v. iii. 125 Nwe Iff thou bee'st wyse drawe thy neck out off the collar doo slipp-stringe doo.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Slip-string, a knave, a mean rascal, one whom the gallows groans for.
Compounds
attributive. Of persons or actions:
a. Roguish, rascally.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > roguery, knavery, or rascalry > [adjective] > worthy of hanging
gallowsc1425
widdiefu?a1513
rope-ripe1552
widdiefu1568
hangworthya1586
slip-string1629
1629 T. Dekker Londons Tempe 202 We are making arrowes for my slip-string sonne.
16.. MS. Bright 170 f. 1 (Halliw.) Such a slippstring trick As never till now befell us heeretofore, Nor shall, I hope, befall us any more.
1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet II. vi. 127 You are a sort of a slip-string gentleman.
b. dialect. (See quot. 1854.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [adjective] > careless, not thorough
overlyc1450
superficialc1456
sloven1532
sloven-like1569
perfunctory1592
slovenly1592
perfunctorious1599
cursory1601
cursorarya1616
slighty1619
cursitory1632
touch and go1682
passant1685
skimming1728
slapdashc1792
lax1812
slap-bang1815
slummocking1825
slobbery1832
percursory1837
slipshod1845
slip-string1854
slummocky1855
free and easy1864
unthorough1868
slurring1880
slummy1881
sploshy1881
skimmy1893
surfacy1975
drive-through1994
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 246 Slip-string ways, careless, slovenly ways; applied almost exclusively to servants who slight their work.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1546