v., slid (slĭd), slid·ing, slides. v.intr.
- To move over a surface while maintaining smooth continuous contact.
- To coast on a slippery surface, such as ice or snow.
- To pass smoothly and quietly; glide: slid past the door without anyone noticing.
- To go unattended or unacted upon: Let the matter slide.
- To lose a secure footing or positioning; shift out of place; slip: slid on the ice and fell.
- To move downward: Prices began to slide.
- To return to a less favorable or less worthy condition.
- Baseball. To drop down and skid into a base to avoid being put out.
- To cause to slide or slip: slid the glass down to the other end of the counter.
- To place covertly or deftly: slid the stolen merchandise into his pocket.
- A sliding movement or action.
- A smooth surface or track for sliding, usually inclined: a water slide.
- A playground apparatus for children to slide on, typically consisting of a smooth chute mounted by means of a ladder.
- A part that operates by sliding, as the U-shaped section of tube on a trombone that is moved to change the pitch.
- An image on a transparent base for projection on a screen.
- A small glass plate for mounting specimens to be examined under a microscope.
- A fall of a mass of rock, earth, or snow down a slope; an avalanche or landslide.
- Music.
- A slight portamento used in violin playing, passing quickly from one note to another.
- An ornamentation consisting of two grace notes approaching the main note.
- A small metal or glass tube worn over a finger or held in the hand, used in playing bottleneck-style guitar.
- The bottleneck style of guitar playing.
[Middle English sliden, from Old English slīdan.]
SYNONYMS slide, slip, glide, coast, skid, slither. These verbs mean to move smoothly and continuously over or as if over a slippery surface. Slide usually implies rapid easy movement without loss of contact with the surface: coal that slid down a chute to the cellar. Slip is most often applied to accidental sliding resulting in loss of balance or foothold: slipped on a patch of ice. Glide refers to smooth, free-flowing, seemingly effortless movement: “four snakes gliding up and down a hollow” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Coast applies especially to downward movement resulting from the effects of gravity or momentum: The driver let the truck coast down the incline. Skid implies an uncontrolled, often sideways sliding caused by a lack of traction: The bus skidded on wet pavement. Slither can mean to slip and slide, as on an uneven surface, often with friction and noise: “The detached crystals slithered down the rock face” (H.G. Wells). The word can also suggest the sinuous gliding motion of a reptile: An iguana slithered across the path.
