slide

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of moving smoothly along a surface while remaining in contact with it

   Their slide didn't stop until the bottom of the hill.

2. 2
   noun

   a transparency mounted in a frame

   viewed with a slide projector

3. 3
   noun

   in music, rapid sliding up or down the musical scale

   The violinist was indulgent with their swoops and slides.

4. 4
   verb

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

   He slid the boat across the grass.

5. 5
   verb

   To move on a low-friction surface.

   The car slid on the ice.

6. 6
   verb

   To drop down and skid into a base.

   Jones slid into second.

7. 7
   verb

   To lose one’s balance on a slippery surface.

   He slid while going around the corner.

8. 8
   verb

   To pass or put imperceptibly; to slip.

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

Etymology

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”).