slither

slither

English

Etymology

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”). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

Pronunciation

• (UK) 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

Related terms

▼ <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*sleyd%CA%B0-' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *sleydʰ-'>English terms derived from the PIE root *sleydʰ-</a>‎ (0 c, 4 e)

  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/sled' title='sled'>sled</a>

  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/slidder' title='slidder'>slidder</a>

  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/slide' title='slide'>slide</a>

  <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs0 CategoryTreeLabelPage' href='/wiki/slither' title='slither'>slither</a>

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)

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)

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, is considered by many to be an error, though at least one major dictionary merely labels it "informal" .

See also

• sliver

Anagrams

• Hitlers, Shitler, relisht