slither

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move smoothly along the ground with a twisting, side-to-side motion, like a snake.

   The snake slithered silently through the long grass.

2. 2
   verb

   To slide or slip unsteadily over a slippery surface.

   They slithered down the icy slope, struggling to stay upright.

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.

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