Slip"per*y (?), a. [See Slipper, a.]

1.

Having the quality opposite to adhesiveness; allowing or causing anything to slip or move smoothly, rapidly, and easily upon the surface; smooth; glib; as, oily substances render things slippery.

2.

Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise.

The slippery tops of human state. Cowley.

3.

Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away.

The slippery god will try to loose his hold. Dryden.

4.

Liable to slip; not standing firm.

Shak.

5.

Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle.

"The slippery state of kings."

Denham.

6.

Uncertain in effect.

L'Estrange.

7.

Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.

Shak.

Slippery elm. Bot. (a) An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself. (b) A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); -- so called on the Pacific coast.

 

© Webster 1913.

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