Definitions

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

  • noun A part of a plant cut or broken off for grafting or planting; a scion or cutting.
  • noun A long narrow piece; a strip.
  • noun A slender youthful person.
  • noun A small piece of paper, especially a small form, document, or receipt.
  • noun A narrow pew in a church.
  • transitive verb To make a slip from (a plant or plant part).
  • noun Thinned potter's clay used for decorating or coating ceramics.
  • intransitive verb To move smoothly, easily, and quietly.
  • intransitive verb To move stealthily; steal.
  • intransitive verb To escape, as from a grasp, fastening, or restraint.
  • intransitive verb To put on or remove a piece of clothing smoothly or quietly.
  • intransitive verb To slide involuntarily and lose one's balance or foothold. synonym: slide.
  • intransitive verb To move accidentally out of place or fail to gain traction.
  • intransitive verb To pass gradually, easily, or imperceptibly into a different state.
  • intransitive verb To decline from a former or standard level; fall off.
  • intransitive verb To elapse, especially quickly or without notice.
  • intransitive verb To fall into fault or error. Often used with up.
  • intransitive verb To place or insert smoothly and quietly.
  • intransitive verb To insert (a remark, for example) unobtrusively.
  • intransitive verb To put on or remove (clothing) easily or quickly.
  • intransitive verb To get loose or free from; elude.
  • intransitive verb To fail to be remembered by.
  • intransitive verb To release, loose, or unfasten.
  • intransitive verb To unleash or free (a dog or hawk) to pursue game.
  • intransitive verb To give birth to prematurely. Used of animals.
  • intransitive verb To dislocate (a bone).
  • intransitive verb To pass (a knitting stitch) from one needle to another without knitting it.
  • noun The act or an instance of slipping or sliding.
  • noun An accident or mishap, especially resulting in a fall.
  • noun An error in conduct or thinking; a mistake.
  • noun A slight error or oversight, as in speech or writing.
  • noun A docking place for a ship between two piers.
  • noun A slipway.
  • noun Nautical The difference between a vessel's actual speed through water and the speed at which the vessel would move if the screw were propelling against a solid.
  • noun A woman's undergarment of dress length with shoulder straps.
  • noun A half-slip.
  • noun A pillowcase.
  • noun A smooth crack at which rock strata have moved on each other.
  • noun A small fault.

Etymologies

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

[Probably from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch slippe.]

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

[Middle English, slime, from Old English slypa; see sleubh- in Indo-European roots.]

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

[Middle English slippen, probably of Middle Low German or Middle Dutch origin; see lei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English slype, of uncertain origin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Apparently from Middle Low German slippen (Dutch slippen, German schlippen).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from Middle Dutch slippe or Middle Low German slippe. Compare Dutch slip, German Schlippe.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word slip.

Examples

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • He tried to recall the word infection, chided himself for letting so crucial a term slip from his memory.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • Mom muttered, “Watch your language, Poppy,” her programmed response any time I let a curse word slip out in her presence.

    Lifted Wendy Toliver 2010

  • Mom muttered, “Watch your language, Poppy,” her programmed response any time I let a curse word slip out in her presence.

    Lifted Wendy Toliver 2010

  • Mom muttered, “Watch your language, Poppy,” her programmed response any time I let a curse word slip out in her presence.

    Lifted Wendy Toliver 2010

  • Mom muttered, “Watch your language, Poppy,” her programmed response any time I let a curse word slip out in her presence.

    Lifted Wendy Toliver 2010

  • Because agents often want to control who sees a book and when, a scout’s ultimate coup is a “slip,” or a manuscript obtained surreptitiously from a friendly source, cultivated over cocktails and coffees, giving the scout’s client a few extra days, or hours, to consider a book before the competition gets ahold of it.

    The Spine Collector Reeves Wiedeman 2021

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • This word might not be onomatopoeia, but it should be.

    February 17, 2008

  • see century def #43 for grafting usage

    March 30, 2011