different between scurry vs slither

English

Etymology

Perhaps from hurry-skurry, a reduplication of hurry.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sk??r(?)
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sk??i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): (with the "Hurry-furry" merger) /?sk??i/
• Rhymes: -?ri
• Hyphenation: scur?ry

Verb

scurry (third-person singular simple present scurries, present participle scurrying, simple past and past participle scurried)

1. To run with quick light steps, to scamper.
   • 1964, William Golding, Lord of the Flies

     Then the piglet tore loose from the creepers and scurried into the undergrowth.

Synonyms

• (run with quick light steps): scamper
• (do things quickly): hurry, zoom; see also Thesaurus:rush

Derived terms

• ascurry
• scurry away
• scurry off

Translations

Noun

scurry (plural scurries)

1. A dash.
   • 1845, Sporting Magazine (volume 5, page 25)

     Found a fox in Deerstone, and after a great deal of music, and a scurry or two round the wood, went away over Whigford Down, but he was too far before them to make any more quick music […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidr?n (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd?- (“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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sl?ð.?(?)/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(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

• aslither
• slitherlink
• Slytherin

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

slither

1. (archaic) slithery; slippery

Noun

slither (uncountable)

1. A limestone rubble.
2. (nonstandard, see usage notes) 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