Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move in a smooth, effortless manner: synonym: slide.
  • intransitive verb To move silently and furtively.
  • intransitive verb To occur or pass imperceptibly.
  • intransitive verb To fly without propulsion from wings or an engine.
  • intransitive verb Music To blend one tone into the next; slur.
  • intransitive verb Linguistics To articulate a glide in speech.
  • intransitive verb To cause to move or pass smoothly, silently, or imperceptibly.
  • noun The act of gliding.
  • noun Music A slur.
  • noun The transitional sound produced by passing from the articulatory position of one speech sound to that of another.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To move smoothly and without discontinuity or jar; pass or slip along without apparent effort; sweep along with a smooth, easy, rapid motion, as a stream in its channel, a bird through the air, or a ship through the water.
  • Specifically In music, to pass from tone to tone without break; slur.
  • In cricket, to glance; allow the ball to meet the bat and be deflected from it, usually to the leg side.
  • noun A gliding movement; the act of moving smoothly and evenly.
  • noun In music and pronunciation, the joining of two successive sounds without a break; a transition-sound involuntarily produced between two principal sounds; a slur.
  • noun In dancing, a peculiar waltz-step performed in a smooth and sliding manner.
  • noun In phonetics, a fleeting sound produced in passing from one position of the organs of speech to another, as in pronouncing the sound-combination ki in the word ‘kind’ designated the off-glide of the first letter and the on-glideof the second .
  • noun In cricket, a glance; a stroke by which, instead of being hit, the ball is allowed to strike the bat and to be deflected from it, usually to the leg side.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) The glede or kite.
  • intransitive verb To move gently and smoothly; to pass along without noise, violence, or apparent effort; to pass rapidly and easily, or with a smooth, silent motion, as a river in its channel, a bird in the air, a skater over ice.
  • intransitive verb (Phon.) To pass with a glide, as the voice.
  • intransitive verb (Aëronautics) To move through the air by virtue of gravity or momentum; to volplane.
  • noun The act or manner of moving smoothly, swiftly, and without labor or obstruction.
  • noun (Phon.) A transitional sound in speech which is produced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other of a double or diphthongal consonant (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 19, 161, 162). Also (by Bell and others), the vanish (or brief final element) or the brief initial element, in a class of diphthongal vowels, or the brief final or initial part of some consonants (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 18, 97, 191).
  • noun (Aëronautics) Movement of a glider, aëroplane, etc., through the air under gravity or its own movement.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.
  • verb intransitive To fly unpowered, as of an aircraft.
  • verb transitive To cause to glide.
  • noun The act of gliding.
  • noun linguistics Semivowel
  • noun fencing An attack or preparatory movement made by sliding down the opponent’s blade, keeping it in constant contact.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause to move or pass silently, smoothly, or imperceptibly
  • noun the activity of flying a glider
  • noun the act of moving smoothly along a surface while remaining in contact with it
  • verb fly in or as if in a glider plane
  • verb move smoothly and effortlessly
  • noun a vowellike sound that serves as a consonant

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan; see ghel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English glīdan, from West Germanic. Cognate with Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian gli, Swedish glida, Danish glide.

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Examples

  • Cavic began his glide into the wall, arms out straight underwater, and Phelps made a split-second decision to take a fast half-stroke, although a glide is usually the more effective finish.

    Phelps wins 100m butterfly thriller to tie Spitz's record 2008

  • Adults flushed bird, turned him to me with missed shots, cock passed me in glide, and I brought him down.

    Field & Stream 2009

  • Yet, I can hear a slight glide from the strong vowel to the schwa before the rhotic r is pronounced in these words in American English.

    P is for Phonemic Chart « An A-Z of ELT 2010

  • Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin glide through their first run before the crash.

    USATODAY.com - U.S. lugers Grimmette, Martin crash out 2006

  • I also assume you will dial back your risk over time as you near retirement, which is called a "glide path" in the IFA.com online tool.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • I also assume you will dial back your risk over time as you near retirement, which is called a "glide path" in the IFA.com online tool.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • I also assume you will dial back your risk over time as you near retirement, which is called a "glide path" in the IFA.com online tool.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • And I would anticipate some type of - they are using the word glide for Citizens rates to go up.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2009

  • One reason fund companies give for this "through" strategy -- that is, a glide path that invests "through retirement" instead of "to retirement" -- is that retirees are in danger of outliving their assets; the potential growth provided by equities is a way of managing longevity risk for decades, some fund companies say.

    Doubts Linger Over 'Target' Funds Andrea Coombes 2011

  • With visibility reportedly at less than half a mile at the time, a commercial aircraft typically would have been relying on an instrument landing system providing its pilots a so-called glide slope to help safely descend toward the runway.

    Clues Sought in Crash of Polish Plane Andy Pasztor 2010

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