Etymology From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (“thin, slender”), from Middle Dutch slinder (“thin, lank”), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (“that which dangles”), German schlendern (“to saunter, stroll”), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (“to wriggle, creep like a serpent”), Low German slindern (“to slide on ice”). More at slide, slither.
1
Thin; slim.
A rod is a long slender pole used for angling.
She is very slender.
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Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
Smooth and slender and naked, Mary Rittersdorf faced her husband.1964, Philip K. Dick, “THIRTEEN”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 193:
Being a person of slender means, he was unable to afford any luxuries.
The grounds for the conjecture are somewhat slender.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 413:
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The slender service between Ellesmere Port and Helsby has been added, too.2022 January 26, Barry Doe, “Fabrik offers an end to hard times”, in RAIL, number 949, page 42:
Etymology From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (“thin, slender”), from Middle Dutch slinder (“thin, lank”), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (“that which dangles”), German schlendern (“to saunter, stroll”), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (“to wriggle, creep like a serpent”), Low German slindern (“to slide on ice”). More at slide, slither.
1
To attenuate.
Rolled-up sleeves bared her strong forearms, which slendered down when they came to the wrists and hands.1954, Elizabeth Bowen, A World of Love, page 38:
Slender
noun
Etymology From the character of Abraham Slender in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor.
[…] the fantastic pilgrimages imposed on the "Cousin Slenders" of the world by their more facetious comrades […]1833, James Anthony Froude, John Tulloch, Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 7, page 427:
[…] here also, behind the pillars, dark villains like Varney, and assassins like Iago, watched the simple country Slenders and the besotted Master Mathews, themselves grimly observed by honest water-carriers like Ben Jonson's Cob and Shakespeare's Adam.1871, Belgravia, page 462:
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A walk through the pleasant little town of Cirencester upon a market day will show Slenders and Simples by the dozen.1877, Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 15, page 492: