slide

Pronunciation

• IPA: /slaɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English sliden, inherited from Old English slīdan (“to glide, slip, fall”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *slīdaną,^[2][4] related to Middle High German slīten (“to slide”) and Old High German slito (“sledge”) (German Schlitten);^[2][4][5] see also sled and sledge.^[6] Outside Germanic it is cognate with Ancient Greek ὀλισθάνειν (olisthánein, “to slip, fall”), Lithuanian slýsti (“to glide”) and Sanskrit स्रेधति (srédhati, “glides off, goes astray”),^[2][4][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“slippery; to slide”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move smoothly, glide: Old English slīdan, before 950;^[2] it also meant to fall, and figuratively to lapse morally, err, or be transitory.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Middle English sliden kept both gliding and losing one's footing.^[4] The noun, the act of sliding, is from 1570 in Barnhart and MWU, the 1560s in Etymonline,^[2][5][4] and a smooth inclined surface for sliding things down from the 1680s;^[4] the playground slide is by 1900, short for sliding board (1899).^[4] A landslide is from the 1660s,^[4] and a sliding part of a musical instrument from 1800, as in the slide trombone (1891).^[4] A picture for projection is from 1819, of magic lanterns, earlier a slider (1793),^[4] and the slide show is attested by 1949.^[4] A rapid downturn, on the slide, is from 1884,^[7][4] and a sliding approach to a base in baseball from 1886.^[7] In music a slide is also a kind of grace (1818) and in jazz a glissando (1959).^[7] Slide rule is from the 19th century.^[8]

Timeline

• before 950 – Old English slīdan.^[2]
• 1570 – the noun, the act of sliding.^[2]
• 1660s – a landslide.^[4]
• 1819 – a lantern slide.^[4]
• 1884 – a rapid decline.^[7][4]
• 1886 – a slide in baseball.^[7]
• 1900 – a playground slide.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move smoothly over a surface while keeping in contact with it.
2. To glide over ice or snow.
3. To pass smoothly or quietly; to slip: she slid into the room.
4. To pass gradually into a worse state: to slide into debt.

Noun

1. An act of sliding.
2. A smooth sloping surface for sliding down, especially in a playground.
3. A small piece of glass on which a specimen is placed for viewing under a microscope.
4. A photographic image on a transparent base for projection on a screen.
5. A landslide or avalanche.
6. A sliding part of a mechanism or instrument, as of a trombone.

Word family

• slidable
• slidableness
• landslide
• mudslide
• backslide
• catslide
• downslide
• outslide

Related words

• slider
• sled
• sledge
• sleigh
• slither

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press