slickrock
nounEtymology From slick + rock.
1
A rock or a rock formation made smooth by weathering.
- Rubber or cord soles are best for climbing over “slickrocks.” Well-advised tenderfeet keep shirt collars buttoned and sleeves rolled down, for the desert and high mountain sun burns mercilessly.1941, Writer’s Program of the Works Progress Administration, Utah: A Guide to the State, page xx:
- Breaking camp the next morning, I asked Kent Frost about the origin of the term slickrock. “It isn’t necessarily limited to any particular geological formation?” I asked. ¶ “No, it isn’t,” Kent said. “It’s more like the whole country is slickrock, even where it’s crumbling away.”1971, Edward Abbey, Slickrock: Endangered Canyons of the Southwest, →ISBN, page 11: