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schleichen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

German

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Etymology

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    From Middle High German slīchen, from Old High German slīhhan. Compare also English slink, though formally unrelated. Cognate with English slick.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈʃlaɪ̯çən/
    • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
    • Hyphenation: schlei‧chen

    Verb

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    schleichen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present schleicht, past tense schlich, past participle geschlichen, auxiliary sein)

    1. (intransitive) to move in a quiet and inconspicuous manner, hence often slowly and/or ducked: to crawl, to sneak, to steal, to prowl, to creep, to slither (of a snake)
      • 1995, “Heirate mich”, performed by Rammstein:
        Man sieht ihn um die Kirche schleichen
        Seit einem Jahr ist er allein
        Die Trauer nahm ihm alle Sinne
        Schläft jede Nacht bei ihrem Stein
        You see him sneaking around the church
        He's been alone for a year
        The sadness took away all his senses
        He sleeps by her headstone every night
    2. (reflexive, with some adverb of location) to go somewhere in the above manner
    3. (informal, intransitive) to move slowly (especially in a car)
      Was schleicht der da so?Why’s that guy driving so slowly?
    4. (informal, reflexive) to slink away; to leave meekly or sheepishly
    5. (Austria, Bavaria, Southern Germany, reflexive, colloquial or vulgar, dismissal) to piss off
      Schleich dich!Piss off!

    Conjugation

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    Hyponyms

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    Derived terms

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    Further reading

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