I. ˈslīd verb
( slid ˈslid ; or dialect slod ˈsläd ; or archaic slided ; slid or archaic slidden ˈslid ə n ; sliding ; slides )
Etymology: Middle English sliden, from Old English slīdan to glide, slip, backslide; akin to Middle High German slīten to slide, Greek olisthanein to slip, glide, fall, Sanskrit sredhati he errs, blunders, Greek leios smooth — more at lime
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to go with a smooth continuous motion : glide
fishes … sliding swiftly from your boat — American Guide Series: Florida
a little red convertible slid up the … driveway — S.A.Offit
shadows slid along the huge wooden tables — Sinclair Lewis
b. : to coast over a surface (as snow or ice) by means of gravity or momentum
a startled dog slides toward the skaters on all four feet
slide downhill on a toboggan
when the glacier slid down across New England — L.K.Porritt
c. : to drop down and approach a base in baseball along the ground usually feet first with the weight of the body carried on one hip
slid safely into third base ahead of the catcher's throw
2.
a.
(1) : to suffer a moral relapse : backslide
lead me in all thy righteous ways, nor suffer me to slide — Charles Wesley
(2) : to take a downward turn
if the readjustment … slides into a recession — Fortune
b. : to slip or fall by loss of footing
stumbled over a log and slid down the slope
c. : to change position or become dislocated : shift , slip
the packages slide from her arms
rain slid off the smooth hide of the mountains — G.T.Nunn
3. : to become dissipated : vanish
it was inevitable that existentialism should slide out of men's minds — Norman Cousins
4.
a. : to slither along the ground : crawl , wriggle
began their advance, one sliding forward on his stomach — Georg Meyers
b. : to stream along : flow , pour
walked … along the dark sliding river — Irwin Shaw
5.
a. : to pass effortlessly or unobserved : drift — used of time
how happily must my old age slide away — Henry Fielding
b. : to become readily transferred or diverted
his eye slides from the printed page to the wonderful world outdoors
c. : to take a natural course
finds it easier to let things slide than to insist on strict observance of the rules
d. : to get along with a minimum of effort
this means doing your best, not just sliding through — Boy Scout Handbk.
6.
a. : to move softly or unobtrusively : disappear surreptitiously : sneak , steal
slid behind the bole of a fir tree — F.V.W.Mason
after playing to empty benches for two nights, they slid out of town — American Guide Series: Washington
b. : to pass easily or gradually
slide into a reverie — John Masters
c. : to become gradually transformed
may not godly authority imperceptibly slide over into plain tyranny — V.L.Parrington
d. : to pass by gradations from one pitch to another without cessation of sound
sliding … is another undesirable feature of singing — Sergius Kagen
transitive verb
1.
a. : to cause to glide or slip
slid the car to the curb — Erle Stanley Gardner
slide the left ski forward, then the right
b. : to traverse in a sliding manner
firemen slide the poles to the street floor
2. : to put or introduce surreptitiously
slid the gun out of sight under his coat — Raymond Chandler
the danger of … getting an emperor or a king or a dictator slid over on them — Dorothy C. Fisher
3. : to place (as an alphabetic sequence) beside another sequence in various juxtapositions at each of which the letters of one correspond one-to-one to those of the other
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : an act or instance of sliding: as
(1) : a transit over a slippery surface
a skier's hunger for more slides … per weekend — William Gilman
(2) : chassé
(3) : the distance the fork moves after drop lock in a lever-escapement watch to reach the banking pin
(4) : a sliding approach to a base in baseball — compare hook slide
b.
(1) archaic : a smooth progression
verses, that have a slide , and easiness — Francis Bacon
(2) : a lapse in morals or fortunes
if he should … discover a bit of backward slide in himself — H.A.Overstreet
(3) : a downward turn
action to halt the economic slide — S.H.Slichter
c.
(1) : a musical grace consisting of two or more small notes moving by adjacent degrees and leading to a principal note either above or below
(2) : portamento
2. : a sliding part or mechanism: as
a. : any of various clothing ornaments that slide on and hold by gripping
tie slide
belt slide
b.
(1) : a U-shaped section of tube in the trombone that is pushed out and in to produce the tones between the fundamental and its harmonics
(2) : a short tube that is used in most metal wind instruments to adjust the pitch
c.
(1) : a moving piece (as the ram of a punch press) that is guided by a part along which it slides
slide valve
(2) : a guiding surface (as a feeding mechanism) along which something slides — compare cross slide
d. : sliding seat
e. : a small runner to which something is attached to guide it along a track
the luff of the sail … is sewn on to slides which run in a metal track along the after side of the mast — F.E.Dodman
f.
(1) : the knee of a composing stick
(2) : a slugcasting-machine matrix for casting rules or borders
g. : a cryptographical device resembling a slide rule with a fixed member usually carrying one alphabetic sequence and a double-length sliding member another one repeated
3.
a.
(1) : the descent of a mass (as of earth, rock, or snow) down a hill or mountainside
a slide of rock
— used chiefly in combination
land slide
snow slide
(2) : the track left by a slide
(3) : a mass of debris deposited by a slide
b. : a dislocation in which one rock mass in a mining lode has slid on another : fault
4. : a drag or sledge for transporting heavy loads over a relatively smooth surface
cut the last of the crop and … hauled it on a slide to the tobacco barn — Elizabeth M. Roberts
— called also slider
5.
a.
(1) : a slippery surface for coasting or sliding
ski slide
toboggan slide
(2) : a chute with a flat polished bed sloping down from the top of a mounting ladder
playground slide
gave him a slide for his swimming pool — British Books of the Month
b. : a channel or track on which something is slid
pushed the heavy door on the slide and … followed him into the barn — Astrid Peters
c. : a sloping trough down which objects are carried by gravity
log slide
d. : an inclined plane on moist soil adjoining water and smoothed by otters or occasionally other aquatic mammals at play
e. or slide stacker : an inclined plane up which hay is drawn for stacking
6.
a. : a usually rectangular piece of glass on which an object is mounted for microscopic examination
b.
(1) : a photographic transparency on a small plate or film suitably protected for projection — see filmslide , lantern slide
(2) : dark slide
7. : scuff 4