slipper

noun, adj, verb — 12 senses

slipper

noun

AU, UK /ˈslɪpə(ɹ)/ · CA, US /ˈslɪpəɹ/

Etymology From Middle English slypper, equivalent to slip + -er.

10 senses
  1. 1A low soft shoe that can be slipped on and off easily.
  2. 2A low soft shoe intended for indoor use; a bedroom…
  3. 3A flip-flop (type of rubber sandal).
  4. 4A person or creature that slips.
  5. 5A kind of apron or pinafore for children.
  6. 6A kind of brake or shoe for a wagon wheel.
  7. 7A piece, usually a plate, applied to a sliding piece, to…
  8. 8A form of corporal punishment where the buttocks are…
  9. 9The plimsoll or gym shoe used in this form of punishment.
  10. 10A kind of bedpan urinal shaped somewhat like a slipper.
1

A low soft shoe that can be slipped on and off easily.

2

A low soft shoe intended for indoor use; a bedroom slipper or house slipper.

  • Get out of bed, put on your slippers, and come downstairs.
3

Hawaii, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, US A flip-flop (type of rubber sandal).

4

A person or creature that slips.

  • He is a frequent “slipper,” but doesn’t seem to have sufficient intelligence upon which to ever build permanent sobriety and happiness.1955, Father John Doe (Father Ralph Pfau), Sobriety and Beyond, Hazelden Publishing, published 1997, →ISBN, page 130:
  • Virtually all human action is liable to opposing interpretations, depending mainly upon distance: to take the familiar case of the banana peel, the fall is painful to the slipper, hilarious to the spectator across the street.1995, Russ McDonald, “Sex, Lies, and Shakespearean Drama”, in Jeanne Addison Roberts (editor), part one of Peggy O’Brien (editor), Shakespeare Set Free: Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello, Simon and Schuster, page 3
2 more examples
  • Slipping on a banana peel does not mean big bucks for the “slipper” if the “slippee” has a good law firm representing it.2001, Barry M. Levenson, Habeas Codfish: Reflections on Food and the Law, University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 7:
  • He was grey and had eight legs, and could travel anywhere and slip into any corner of 9 worlds. For this reason he was called Sleipnir ("the slipper) and was given to Oðinn as his steed.2020, Dagulf Loptson, Pagan Portals - Loki: Trickster and Transformer:
5

A kind of apron or pinafore for children.

6

A kind of brake or shoe for a wagon wheel.

7

Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A piece, usually a plate, applied to a sliding piece, to receive wear and permit adjustment; a gib.

8

A form of corporal punishment where the buttocks are repeatedly struck with a plimsoll; "the slipper".

  • 1981, Andrew Loudon, Staffroom mole leaks secret of his school's beatings book, Daily Mail and General Trust, World Corporal Punishment Research "Mrs Marlene Foster […] , an opponent of the slipper, said her son Gary had a bottom "as red as a beetroot" after he was punished for writing on desks. "
9

Euphemistic The plimsoll or gym shoe used in this form of punishment.

  • "All teachers had what was referred to as a 'slipper', but in reality was a cut down gym shoe designed for smacking our bottoms."2004, James Morgan, Stretching Forward to Learn, World Corporal Punishment Research:
10

Medicine, Sciences A kind of bedpan urinal shaped somewhat like a slipper.

Derived terms
34 termsballet slipper, beslipper, carpet slipper, harem slipper, house slipper, house-slipper, hunt the slipper, Japanese slipper, Kentucky lady's slipper, ladyslipper, lady's slipper, lady slipper, opera slipper, pink lady's slipper, pipe-and-slipper, ruby slipper, slipper animalcule, slipper chair, slipperette, slipper flower, slipper gourd, slipperless, slipperlike, slipper limpet, slipper lobster, slipper orchid, slipper-orchid, slipper satin, slipper sock, slipper spoon, slipperwort, southern lady's slipper, toilet slipper, yellow lady's slipper
Coordinate terms
calceolate

slipper

adj

Etymology From Middle English slypper, equivalent to slip + -er.

1

Obsolete slippery

  • O! trustless state of earthly things, and slipper hope / Of mortal men.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:

slipper

verb

Etymology From Middle English slypper, equivalent to slip + -er.

1

Australia, New Zealand, UK To spank with a plimsoll as corporal punishment.

  • 1981, Andrew Loudon, Staffroom mole leaks secret of his school's beatings book, Daily Mail and General Trust, World Corporal Punishment Research "One boy was slippered five times in four days for offences such as missing detention, fooling about and being out of bounds."

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.