slide

From Middle English sliden, from Old English slīdan (“to slide”), from Proto-West Germanic *slīdan, from Proto-Germanic *slīdaną (“to slide, glide”), from Proto-Indo-European *sléydʰ-e-ti, from *sleydʰ- (“slippery”). Cognate with Old High German slītan (“to slide”) (whence German schlittern), Middle Low German slīden (“to slide”), Middle Dutch slīden (“to slide”) (whence Dutch slijderen, frequentative of now obsolete slijden), Vedic Sanskrit स्रेधति (srédhati, “to err, blunder”).

• IPA^(key): /slaɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪd

slide (third-person singular simple present slides, present participle sliding, simple past slid, past participle slid or (archaic) slidden)

1. (ergative) To (cause to) move in continuous contact with a surface.

   He slid the boat across the grass.

   The safe slid slowly.

   Snow slides down the side of a mountain.

2. (intransitive) To move on a low-friction surface.

   The car slid on the ice.

   • c. 1685, Edmund Waller, Of the Invasion and Defeat of the Turks:

     They bathe in summer, and in winter slide.

3. (intransitive, baseball) To drop down and skid into a base.

   Jones slid into second.

4. (intransitive) To lose one’s balance on a slippery surface.

   Synonym: slip

   He slid while going around the corner.

5. (transitive) To pass or put imperceptibly; to slip.

   to alter the meaning of a question by sliding in a word

   Schoolchildren sometimes slide each other notes during class.

   • 1992 October, Steve Buckley, “Boss Hog: Jim Lachey is the best offensive lineman in football playing on the best team in football”, in Sport, volume 83, number 10, →ISSN, page 64:

     Lachey and Olson have become rather chummy the last couple of years—they slide each other free tickets, they visit each other at practice sessions and games, their wives hang out—and, well, Olson has been filling Lachey’s head with a lot of baseball talk.

6. (transitive) To subtly direct a facial expression at (someone).

   He slid me a dirty look.

7. (intransitive, obsolete) To pass inadvertently.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus 28:26, column 2:

     Beware thou ſlide not by it, leſt thou fall before him that lieth in wait.

8. (intransitive) To pass along smoothly or unobservedly; to move gently onward without friction or hindrance.

   A ship or boat slides through the water.

   • 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy:

     Ages shall slide away without perceiving.

   • 1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle 4”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 42, lines 59–62:

     Begin vvith Senſe, of ev'ry Art the Soul, / Parts anſw'ring parts ſhall ſlide into a VVhole, […]

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto IX:

     All night no ruder air perplex
     ⁠Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright
     ⁠As our pure love, thro’ early light
     Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.

9. (intransitive, finance) To decrease in amount or value.

   Synonym: slip

   The stock market slid yesterday after major stocks released weak quarterly results.

10. (music) To smoothly pass from one note to another by bending the pitch upwards or downwards.
11. (regional) To ride down snowy hills upon a toboggan or similar object for recreation.

    Synonyms: toboggan, sled

    • 1913, Alice B. Emerson, Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp, Or, Lost in the Backwoods‎:

      Tom and his mates discussed some plan for a few minutes and then Tom sang out: "Who'll go sliding? There's a big bob-sled in the barn and we fixed it up yesterday morning. […] "

    • 1919, Grace Brooks Hill, The Corner House Girls Snowbound‎:

      "They're awful mean not to have taken us slidin' with them," declared Sammy, sitting on the front step and making no effort to continue the work of snow man building. "I love to slide," repeated Dot, sadly.

12. (intransitive, slang) To go; to move from one place or to another.
    • 1999, Paolo Hewitt, Heaven's Promise, page 12:

      "Gotta slide, this is my stop [on the train]."

    • 2021, Virdez Evans, Actions with Consequences, iUniverse, →ISBN:

      "Baby what are you doing why are you putting your clothes back on?" "Somebody robbd my nigga I gotta go!" I tell her. With a saddened face, she says, "What do you mean you gotta go, is he okay?" "I don't know I just know I gotta slide, he's pulling up out here any min."

13. (soccer) To kick so that the ball slides along the ground with little or no turning.
    • 2021 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Hungary 0-4 England”, in BBC‎:

      England captain Harry Kane missed a great chance to give them the lead shortly after the break but it did not prove costly as Raheem Sterling crowned a smooth move involving Declan Rice, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount to slide home his 16th goal in his past 24 international appearance after 55 minutes.

• → Japanese: スライド (suraido)

A slide (item of play equipment)

Photographic slide frames for mounting 35 mm film for use in a slide projector

slide (plural slides)

1. An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.

   Synonyms: slippery dip, slippery slide

   The long, red slide was great fun for the kids.

2. A surface of ice, snow, butter, etc. on which someone can slide for amusement or as a practical joke.
   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “How the Pickwickians Made and Cultivated the Acquaintance of a Couple of Nice Young Men Belonging to One of the Liberal Professions; How They Disported Themselves on the Ice; and How Their Visit Came to a Conclusion”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 312:

     skimming over the ice […] It was a good long slide, and there was something in the motion which Mr. Pickwick, who was very cold with standing still, could not help envying.

3. The falling of large amounts of rubble, earth and stones down the slope of a hill or mountain; avalanche.

   The slide closed the highway.

4. An inclined plane on which heavy bodies slide by the force of gravity, especially one constructed on a mountainside for conveying logs by sliding them down.
5. A mechanism consisting of a part which slides on or against a guide.
6. The act of sliding; smooth, even passage or progress.

   a slide on the ice

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Nobility. XIIII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 75:

     Certainly Kings, that haue Able men of their Nobility, ſhall finde eaſe in imploying them; And a better Slide into their Buſineſſe: For People naturally bend to them, as borne in ſome ſort to Command.

   • 2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page 170:

     Conceptually, this cognitive slide from social to biological was facilitated by the rhetoric of eugenics, which acknowledged few distinctions between the two.

   • 2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC‎:

     But for West Brom it was further evidence they are struggling to arrest a slide down the table where they are now three points above the relegation zone after their sixth loss in seven league matches.

7. A lever that can be moved in two directions.
8. Synonym of slider (“movable part of a zip fastener that opens or closes the row of teeth”)
9. A valve that works by sliding, such as in a trombone.
10. (photography) A transparent plate bearing an image to be projected to a screen.
11. (by extension, computing) A page of a computer presentation package such as PowerPoint.

    I still need to prepare some slides for my presentation tomorrow.

12. (sciences) A flat, usually rectangular piece of glass or similar material on which a prepared sample may be viewed through a microscope Generally referred to as a microscope slide.
13. (baseball) The act of dropping down and skidding into a base
14. (music, guitar) A hand-held device made of smooth, hard material, used in the practice of slide guitar.
15. (traditional Irish music and dance) A lively dance from County Kerry, in 12/8 time.
16. (geology) A small dislocation in beds of rock along a line of fissure.
17. (music) A grace consisting of two or more small notes moving by conjoint degrees, and leading to a principal note either above or below.
18. (phonetics) A sound which, by a gradual change in the position of the vocal organs, passes imperceptibly into another sound.
19. A clasp or brooch for a belt, etc.
20. A pocket in one's pants (trousers).

    with ten dollars in his slide

21. (footwear) A shoe that is backless and open-toed.
22. (speech therapy) A voluntary stutter used as a technique to control stuttering in one's speech.
23. (vulgar slang) A promiscuous woman, slut.

• (item of play equipment): slippery dip
• (inclined plane on which heavy bodies slide by the force of gravity): chute
• (mechanism of a part which slides on or against a guide): runner

• helter-skelter

• (transparent plate bearing an image): slide projector, slide viewer

• → Czech: slajd
• → Japanese: スライド (suraido)
• → Persian: اسلاید (eslâyd)
• → Polish: slajd
• → Portuguese: slide

• Diels, Lides, Seidl, delis, idles, isled, leids, sidle, siled, sleid

from Old Norse slíta, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną, cognate with Swedish slita, English slit, German schleißen, Dutch slijten.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsliːðə]

slide (imperative slid, infinitive at slide, present tense slider, past tense sled, perfect tense har slidt)

1. labour; work hard
2. chafe

Unadapted borrowing from English slide.

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɑi̯d(i)/, [ˈs̠lɑ̝i̯d(i)]

slide

1. Alternative form of slaidi.

slide

1. Alternative form of sliden

Borrowed from English slide.

• IPA^(key): /slɑɪ̯d/

slide m (definite singular sliden, indefinite plural slides, definite plural slidesene)

1. (photography) a slide, diapositive
2. a slide (frame in a slideshow)

• “slide” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slide” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Borrowed from English slide.

• IPA^(key): /slɑɪ̯d/

slide m (plural sliden)

1. (photography) a slide, diapositive
2. a slide (frame in a slideshow)

• “slide” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “slide”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Unadapted borrowing from English slide.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iz.ˈlaj.d͡ʒi/, /ˈslajd͡ʒ/, /ˈzlajd͡ʒ/, /ˈslajd/

slide m (plural slides)

1. slide (transparent image for projecting)

   Synonyms: transparência, diapositivo

2. slide (a frame in a slideshow)
3. (music) slide (device for playing slide guitar)
4. (music) slide (guitar technique where the player moves finger up or down the fretboard)