slither

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move about smoothly and from side to side.

   [Indiana:] Wave it at anything that slithers. [Marion:] The whole place is slithering!

2. 2
   verb

   To slide.

   Some snow slides recorded have exceeded a million tons and slithered down the mountain-side at a speed of 60 miles an hour.

3. 3
   verb

   to pass or move unobtrusively or smoothly

4. 4
   adj

   Slithery; slippery.

5. 5
   noun

   A limestone rubble.

6. 6
   noun

   A sliver.

Etymology

From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.