slipstream

noun, verb — 7 senses

slipstream

noun

/ˈslɪp.stɹiːm/

Etymology Compound of slip + stream. Fiction sense coined by cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling in 1989.

1

The low-pressure zone immediately following a rapidly moving object, caused by turbulence.

  • Monza was the seventh race in a row at which Leclerc had out-qualified Vettel. There were extenuating circumstances this time - Vettel did not have a slipstream on his first lap and the farcical end to qualifying prevented him doing another - but a clear pattern is emerging.2019 September 8, Andrew Benson, BBC Sport:
2

Broadly, Figuratively A generated advantage which makes forward movement easier.

  • The Republicans, who in fact quintessentially represent what I understand to be private and special interests of a narrow economic kind, have nevertheless managed, flying in the slipstream of Ronald Reagan's rhetoric, to look like the true guardians of the nation's public interest.2012, Benjamin Barber, “Liberal Values in the Age of Interdependence”, in Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture:
3

The relative wind experienced as a result of movement through air.

4

Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The airflow over a propeller-driven aircraft generated by the motion of its propeller(s).

5

Fiction, Literature, Media, Publishing A genre of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries.

  • Slipstream is not simply a mixture of fantasy and realism, but something which lies between or even beyond the two.2000, Damien Broderick, quoting Justina Robson and Rozanne Rabinowitz, Transrealist Fiction: Writing in the Slipstream of Science, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 88:
Derived terms
slipstreamer, slipstreamy

slipstream

verb

Etymology Compound of slip + stream. Fiction sense coined by cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling in 1989.

1

To take advantage of the suction produced by a slipstream by travelling immediately behind the slipstream generator.

  • Although dangerous, over-the-road truck drivers sometimes slipstream with each other to save fuel.
2

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To incorporate additional software (such as patches) into an existing installer.

  • You do this by slipstreaming the updates into the distribution folder.2003, William Boswell, Inside Windows Server 2003:
  • A better solution is to create a bootable Windows XP installation CD slipstreamed with the current service pack...2004, Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, Craig Stinson, Microsoft Windows XP inside out:
1 more example
  • It is illegal to distribute slipstreamed CDs. In some locales, it may also be illegal to create them.2005, Jesper M Johansson, Steve Riley, Protect your Windows network: from perimeter to data:

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