[A 
slipslop 
slipslop, slipslap (slip'slop, -slap), r. i. 
varied reduplication of slip, as if slip 1 + 
or step 1 .] To slap repeatedly ; go slipping and 
slapping. 
I ha' found her fingers dip-slap this a-way and that a- way 
like a flail upon a wheatsheaf. 
Mrs. CentUm, The Artifice, iii. 
The dirty broken Bluchers in which Grit's feet slip- 
slopped constantly. B. L. Fargeon, Grif, p. 105. 
slipslop, slipslap (slip'slop, -slap), . and a. 
[See slipslop, slipslap, .] I. n. 1. Weak and 
sloppy drink; thin, watery food. 
No, thou shalt feed, instead of these, 
Or your dip-slap of curds and whey, 
On Nectar and Ambrosia. 
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, p. 187. (Davies.) 
At length the coffee was announced. . . . 
"And since the meagre slip-slop's made, 
I think the call should be obey'd." 
Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, ill. 1. (Davies.) 
2. A blunder. 
He told us a great number of comic slip-slops of the first 
Lord Baltimore, who made a constant misuse of one word 
for another. Mme. D'Arblay, Diary, iv. 14. 
II. . Slipshod; slovenly. 
His [the rationalist's] ambiguous slip-slop trick of using 
the word natural to mean in one sentence " material," and 
in the next, as I use it, only " normal and orderly." 
Kingsley, Alton Locke, xxxvili. 
Slipsloppy (slip'slop-i), a. [< slipslo]) + -yl.] 
Slushy; wet; plashy. 
There was no taking refuge too then, as with us, 
On a slip-sloppy day, in a cab or a 'bus. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 291. 
slip-Stitch (slip'stich), n. 1. A stitch 
5700 
2. To cut lengthwise or into long pieces or 
strips : as, the gale has slit the sails into ribbons. 
3. To cut or make a long fissure in ; slash. 
And here Clothes ben slytt at the syde ; and thei ben 
festned with Laces of Silk. Mandeville, Travels, p. 247. 
I'll slit the villain's nose that would have sent me to the 
gaol. Shak., T. of theS., v. 1. 134. 
Silt bar-sight, see bari, ic. silt deal. See deal?, i. 
- Silt top-shells, the gastropods of the family Scissurel- 
lidee, which have the lip of the aperture slit or incised, like 
those of the family Pleurotmnariida. See top-shell, and cut 
under ScismreUidse. 
Slit 1 (slit), tt. [< ME. slit, slite, slitte, < AS. slite 
= Icel. slit = OHG. MHG. sliz, Q. schUts, a slit ; 
from the verb.] 1. A long cut or rent ; a nar- 
row opening. 
It [a dagger] was . . . put into a Kl in the side of a 
mattress. State Trials, Q. Elizabeth, an. 1584. 
He was nursed by an Irish nurse, after the Irish manner, 
wher they putt the child into a pendulous satchell instead 
of a cradle, with a slitt for the child's head to peepe out. 
Aubrey, Lives, Robert Boyle. 
It might have been wished that . . . his mouth had been 
of a less reptilian width of xW. George Eliot, Romolu, xivi. 
2f. A pocket. 
Tli ii most habbe red! mitte 
Tweuti Marc ine thi slitte. 
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 61. 
3. A cleft or crack in the breast of fat cattle. 
[Prov. Eng.] 4. In coal-mining, a short head- 
ing connecting two other headings. [Eng.] 
5. Specifically, in zodl., anat., and embryol., a 
visceral cleft ; one of the series of paired (right 
and left) openings in the front and sides of the 
head and neck of every vertebrate embryo. 
crochet-work used for joining different parts some of which or all may disappear, or some of 
of the work together. 2. A stitch in knitting, which may persist as gill-slits or their equiva- 
3. A stitch in darned netting and similar lents ; a branchial, pharyngeal, etc., slit. These 
embroideries on openwork ground. 
slip-stopper (slip / stop' ! 'er), n. Naut., a con- 
trivance for letting go an anchor by means of 
a trigger. 
slip-Strainer (slip'stra // ner), . In ccram., a 
strainer of any form through which the slip 
is passed. 
slipstringt (slip'string), n. [< slip 1 , r., + obj. 
string.] One who has shaken off restraint; a , , _. _ vc ,. 
prodigal: sometimes used attributively. Also slither (sliTH'er), . and w. [< ME. "slither, 
slits occur between any two visceral arches of each side : 
more or fewer of them persist in all branchiate verte- 
brates. See under cleft, and cut under amnion. Bran- 
chial silt, pharyngeal slits, etc. See the adjectives. 
Slit-planting, a method of planting which is per- 
formed by making slits in the soil with a spade so as to 
cross each other, and inserting the plant at the point 
where the slits cross. 
slit' 2 t. A Middle English contracted form of 
slideth, third person singular present indica- 
tive of slide. Chaucer. 
called sliptlirift. 
Young^rascals or scoundrels, rakehells, or slipstringi. 
Cotgrave. 
Stop your hammers ; what ayles lowe ? We are making 
arrowes for my slip-string soune [cupid]. 
Dekker, Londons Tempe. 
slipt (slipt). A form of the preterit and past 
participle of slip 1 . 
slipthriftt (slip'thrift), n. [< slip 1 , v., + obj. slither (sliTH'er), i'. . [< ME. *slit)teren, sklyth- 
thrift.'] Same as slipstring. eren ; V ar. of slidder, v.~\ To slide: same as 
Slipway (slip'wa), . An inclined plane the slidder. [Prov. Eng.] 
lower end of which extends below the water in 
a slip-dock. Two such ways, one on each side of the 
keel of a ship, are used in combination, of sufficient length 
to permit a ship to be drawn on them entirely out of the 
sklither, slippery ; var. of slidder, o.] I. a. Slip- 
pery : same as slidder. 
II. w. A limestone rubble; angular fragments 
or screes of limestone. [North. Eng.] 
In general this indestructible rubble lays on so steep an 
ascent that it slips from beneath the feet of an animal 
which attempts to cross it whence the name slither, or 
sliding gravel. J. Farey, Derbyshire, I. 146. 
Down they came slithering to the ground, barking their 
arms and faces. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 4. 
water. 
slirt (slert), r. t. 
[Appar. a mixture of flirt 
He slithers on the soft mud, and cannot stop himself 
until he comes down. 
Landor, Imag. Conv., Archdeacon Hare and Walter 
- * . .. [Landor. 
To cast or throw off with a jerk ; slithering (sliTH'er-ing), p. a. Slow ; indolent ; 
slat: as, to shrt a fish^from the hook; also, procrastinating; deceitful. Halliwcll. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
slithery (sliTH'er-i), a. Slippery : same as slid- 
dery. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
The ro'd . . . maun be slithery. 
G. MacDonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, p. 81. 
(slit'shel), n. A shell of the family 
to eject quickly; squirt: as, a fish slirts her 
spawn. 
A female trout slirting out gravel with her tail. 
Seth Green. 
Slirt (slert), . [< slirt. :.] A flirt, flip, or 
jerk; a slat, or slatting movement; a slirting 
action. 
The female diving down at intervals against the gravel, 
and as she comes up giving it a slirt to one side with her 
tail. Seth Oreen. 
Pleurotomariidse, having the outer lip slit. See 
+ -arL] 1. One 
slish (slish), n. [A var. of slash 1 , perhaps in 
part of slice, which is from the same ult. source.] 
A cut; a slash. 
Here s snip and nip and cut and dish and slash, 
Like to a censer in a barber's shop. 
a series of steel disks, or a pair of grooved 
rollers, placed one over the other, serving to 
shear sheet-metal into strips ; a slitting-shears. 
o a arne . as M >M 1 () rFrKr 1 
rs sop. IT.?- ame as JWCA-S 1 (a). LJSng.J 
Shale., T. of the s., iv 3. 90 sllttered (slit'erd), a. [< slitter + -ed%.] Cut 
Slish (slish), v. [<sZgft, .] Same as stegfti. to strips with square ends : noting the edge 
slit 1 (slit) v t m-et and rm sJit or MttfH T,. ot a garment, or of a sleeve. This differs from 
tiffin n f< MV &L ?R , \ , 7 P ? *W* in that the *& are ta P ered and Bunded, whereas 
SMtmg. [< JtE- slitten, sMen (pret. slat, also the slits are equal in width, and are separated from each 
suite, pp. sliten, slytt), < AS. slitan (pret. slat, other merely by the cut of the shears. 
pp. sliten) = OS. sUtan = OFries. slita = D. slitting-disk (slit'ing-disk), n. In gem-cutting, 
slijten = MLG. sliten = OHG. slizan, sclizan, same as slitting-mill, 2. 
MHG. slizen, G. schleissen = Icel. slita = Sw. slitting-flle (slit'ing-fil), u. A file of lozenge 
slita = Dan. slide, slit, split, tear, pull, rend; or diamond section, with four cutting edges, 
perhaps akin to L. leedere, in comp. -lidere two acute and two obtuse. 
(\/ slid f). Hence ult., through F., E. slice, slitting-gage (slit'ing-gaj), n. In saddlery, a 
MMftl, slate 2 , slats, eelat.~\ If. To cut asunder ; hand-tool combining a gage and a cutting edge, 
cleave; split; rend; sever. for cutting leather into strips suitable for har- 
With a swerd that he wolde slitte his herte. ness-straps, reins, etc. 
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 632. slitting-machine (slit'ing-ma-shen"), n. 1. A 
Comes the blind Fury, with the abhorred shears, machine for cutting narrow strips of leather: 
And slits the thin-spun life. Milton, Lycidas, 1. 76. a larger form of the slitting-gage. 2. A ma- 
sliver 
chine for cutting plate-metal into strips for 
nail-rods, etc. 
slitting-mill (slit 'ing-mil), . 1. A mill in 
which iron bars or plates are slit into nail-rods, 
etc. 2. In i/<-iii-i-/i//ini/. n circular disk of thin 
sheet-iron revolving on a lathe, which, with its 
sides and edge charged with diamond-dust and 
lubricated with oil, is used by lapidaries to slit 
gems and other hard substances. Also called 
Slitting-disk, slicer. 3. A gang saw-mill, used 
for resawing lumber for making blind-slats, 
fence-pickets, etc. Compare slittimj-stur. 
slitting-plane (slit'ing-plan ), . A'plane with 
a narrow iron for cutting boards into strips or 
slices: now little used. 
slitting-roller (slit'iug-r6"ler), . One of a pair 
of coacting rollers having rfbs which enter in- 
tervening spaces on the companion rollers, and 
cutting in the manner of shears,used in slitting- 
inills for metals, etc. See cut under rotary. 
slitting-saw (slit'ing-sa), . A form of gang- 
saw for slitting planks, etc., into thin boards 
or strips. It resembles the resawing-machine, and is 
variously modified in form according to the work for 
which it is intended, as making laths, pickets, etc. 
Slitting-shears (slit'ing-sherz), n. frhig. and pi. 
A machine for cutting sheet-metal into strips. 
See cut under rotary. 
sliyeif (sliv), v. t. [< ME. sliven, slyven, < AS. 
slifan (pret. slaf, pp. si if en), cleave, in comp. 
lo-slifan ; cf. sliton, slit. Hence freq. slirer.'] 
To cleave; split; divide. 
Non to wher [wear] no hoddes with a Roll slyvyd on his 
hede, . . . vnder y degre of a Baron. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 37. 
Diners shrubbed trees, the boughes ... he cutting and 
sliuinff downe perceiued blood. 
Warner, Albion's England, ii. 
slive 1 (sliv), n. [< slive 1 , .] A slice ; a chip. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
sUve 11 (sliv), v. ; pret. and pp. slined, ppr. sliviiig. 
[Early mod. E. slyve; appar. as a variant or 
secondary form of slip (cf. OHG. slifan, MHG. 
slifen, G. scMeifen, slide, glance, MHG. slipfen, 
G. schliefen, glide) : see slip 1 .} I. in trans. 1. 
To slide. 
I slyve downe, I fall downe sodaynly, je coule. 
Palsgrave. (Halliwell.) 
2. To sneak; skulk; proceed in a sly way; creep; 
idle away time. 
What are you a slimng about, you drone ? you are a year 
a lighting a candle. 
Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, The Commands 
[of a Master. 
Let me go forsooth. I'm jhour I know her gown agen ; I 
minded her when she slic'd off. 
Mrs. Centlivre, Platonick Lady, iv. 3. 
II. trans. To slip on; put on: with on. 
Ill slive on my gown and gang wi' thee. Craven Glossary. 
sliver (sliv'er or sll'ver), w. [< ME. sliver, sli- 
rere, sleyvere, dim. of slive 1 (as shiver^ of stiive, 
and splinter of splint) ; or < sliver. i\, then a freq. 
otslire 1 : see slive 1 , p.] 1. Apiece, as of wood, 
roughly or irregularly broken, rent, or cut off or 
out, generally lengthwise or with the grain; a 
splinter: as, to get a slirer under one's finger- 
nail ; the lightning tore off great slivers of bark ; 
hence, any fragment; a small bit. 
Alias ! that he al hool, or of him sleyvere, 
Sholde han his refut in so digne a place. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1013. 
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke ; 
When down her weedy trophies and herself 
Fell in the weeping brook. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 174. 
The Major part of the Calf was Roasting upon a Wooden 
Spit; Two or three great Slivers he had lost off his But- 
tocks, his Ribs par'd to the very Bone. 
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, 
[I. 85. 
2. In spinning, a continuous strand of wool, 
cotton, or other fiber, in a loose untwisted con- 
dition, ready for slubbing or roving. 
The thick sheet of cotton composing the lap is reduced 
to a thin cloud-like film, which is drawn through a cone 
tube, and condensed into a sliver, a round, soft, and un- 
twisted strand of cotton. Spans' Eneyc. Manuf., I. 744. 
3. A small wooden instrument used in spinning 
yarn. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 4. The side of 
a small fish cut off in one piece from head to 
tail, to be used as bait; a sort of kibblings. 
The head of the flsh is taken in the left hand of the 
workman, and with a knife held in the right hand he cuts 
a slice, longitudinally, from each side of the body, leaving 
the head and vertebrae to be thrown away, or, occasion- 
ally, to be pressed for oil. The dicers (pronounced slyvers) 
are salted and packed in barrels. The knife used is of 
peculiar shape, and is called a "slivering knife." . . . 
Gloucester had in 1877 about 60 " mackerel-hookers," 
using about 2,400 barrels of slivers, while its seining-fleet 
used about 2,000 barrels more. 
0. B. Gnode, Hist, of the Menhaden (1880), pp. 201, 204. 
