slick 1
— slickly , adv. — slickness , n.
/slik/ , adj., slicker, slickest , n. , adv.
adj.
1. smooth and glossy; sleek.
2. smooth in manners, speech, etc.; suave.
3. sly; shrewdly adroit: He's a slick customer, all right.
4. ingenious; cleverly devised: a slick plan to get out of work.
5. slippery, esp. from being covered with or as if with ice, water, or oil.
6. deftly executed and having surface appeal or sophistication, but shallow or glib in content; polished but superficial; glib: a writer who has mastered every formula of slick fiction.
7. Slang. wonderful; remarkable; first-rate.
n.
8. a smooth or slippery place or spot or the substance causing it: oil slick.
9. Informal.
a. a magazine printed on paper having a more or less glossy finish.
b. such a magazine regarded as possessing qualities, as expensiveness, chic, and sophistication, that hold appeal for a particular readership, as one whose members enjoy or are seeking affluence.
c. such a magazine regarded as having a sophisticated, deftly executed, but shallow or glib literary content. Cf. pulp (def. 6).
10. any of various paddlelike tools for smoothing a surface.
11. Auto. a wide tire without a tread, used in racing.
12. Mil. Slang. a helicopter.
adv.
13. smoothly; cleverly.
[ 1300-50; ME slike (adj.); c. dial. D sleek even, smooth; akin to SLICK 2 ]
Syn. 3. wily, tricky, foxy, sharp.
slick 2
/slik/ , v.t.
1. to make sleek or smooth.
2. to use a slicker on (skins or hides).
3. Informal. to make smart or fine; spruce up (usually fol. by up ).
n.
4. Metall. a small trowel used for smoothing the surface of the mold.
5. any woodworking chisel having a blade more than 2 in. (5 cm) wide.
[ bef. 900; ME slicken (v.), OE slician; akin to ON slikja to give a gloss to ]