slither

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-Germanic *slidrōną (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide +‎ -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪð.ə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(r)

Verb

slither (third-person singular simple present slithers, present participle slithering, simple past and past participle slithered)

1. (intransitive) To move about smoothly and from side to side.
2. (intransitive) To slide
   • 2003, J. Flash, An American Savage

     I bent down and with both hands I scooped up as much of this pissshit as I could. The green and brown clump felt like Jello as it dripped down all over my clothes. It was slithering through inbetween my fingers.

Derived terms

• slitherlink

Translations

to move smoothly from side to side

• Czech: plazit se, šoupnout se
• Finnish: kiemurrella (fi), luikerrella (fi), luikertaa (fi)
• French: ramper / glisser en ondulant
• Portuguese: rastejar (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Scots: hirsel
• Serbo-Croatian: gmizati (sh)
• Thai: เลื้อย (th) (lʉ́ai)

to slide

• Czech: klouzat se
• Finnish: liukua (fi), valua (fi)
• French: glisser (fr), se faufiler (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: scivolare (it)
• Spanish: deslizar (es), deslizarse (es)

Adjective

slither

1. (archaic) slithery; slippery

Noun

slither (uncountable)

1. A limestone rubble.
2. (Used mistakenly) A sliver.

Usage notes

The use of slither to mean sliver, which is prevalent especially in Britain (where th-fronting is becoming more and more prevalent), is considered by many to be an error, though at least one major dictionary merely labels it "informal" [1].

See also

• sliver

Anagrams

• Hirtles, Hitlers, Shitler, relisht