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slither

verb, adj, noun — 5 senses

slither

verb

AU, UK /ˈslɪðə/ · US /ˈslɪðɚ/

Etymology From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

1

To move about smoothly and from side to side.

  • [Indiana:] Wave it at anything that slithers. [Marion:] The whole place is slithering!1981, Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark:
  • She also had a map of the building, not that it was very large, and she'd memorized the layout. The guard station would be right around the corner, and there ought to be a counter about the height of a half-wall looking out over the corridor with only a bulletin board on the opposite wall. She crouched down, and slithered left.2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
2

To slide.

  • Some snow slides recorded have exceeded a million tons and slithered down the mountain-side at a speed of 60 miles an hour.1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Routes”, in Railway Magazine, page 128:
  • I bent down and with both hands I scooped up as much of this pissshit as I could. The green and brown clump felt like Jello as it dripped down all over my clothes. It was slithering through inbetween^([sic]) my fingers.2003, J. Flash, An American Savage:
Derived terms
aslither, slitherer, slitherlink, slithersome, slithery, Slytherin

slither

adj

Etymology From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

1

Archaic Slithery; slippery.

slither

noun

Etymology From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

1

A limestone rubble.

2

Nonstandard A sliver.

Related terms
sliver

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

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