different between snaky vs slippery

English

Alternative forms

• snakey

Etymology

snake +? -y

Adjective

snaky (comparative snakier, superlative snakiest)

1. Resembling or relating to snakes.
2. Windy; winding; twisty; sinuous, wavy.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, “Chain Gang”, in The Book of Small:^[1]

     The nuns’ veils billowed and flapped behind the snaky line of girls as if the sisters were shooing the serpent from the Garden of Eden.

3. (obsolete) sly; cunning; deceitful.
4. (obsolete) Covered with serpents; having serpents.
   • 1634, John Milton, Comus, lines 447-452,^[2]

     What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield

     That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,

     Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,

     But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

     And noble grace that dashed brute violence

     With sudden adoration and blank awe?

   • 1700, John Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite,”^[3]

     His hat adorned with wings disclosed the god,

     And in his hand he bore the sleep-compelling rod;

     Such as he seemed, when, at his sire’s command,

     On Argus’ head he laid the snaky wand.

Translations

Anagrams

• Yanks, nasky, sanky, yanks

English

Etymology

From Middle English slipperie, an extended form ( +? -y) of Middle English slipper, sliper (“slippery”), from Old English slipor (“slippery”), from Proto-Germanic *slipraz (“smooth, slippery”), equivalent to slip +? -er. Compare also Middle English slibbri, slubbri (“slippery”) borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German slibberich (“slippery”). Cognate with German schlüpfrig (“slippery”), Danish slibrig (“slippery”), Swedish slipprig (“slippery”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sl?p??i/, /?sl?p?i/

Adjective

slippery (comparative slipperier, superlative slipperiest)

1. Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.

   Oily substances render things slippery.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Evasive; difficult to pin down.

   a slippery person

   a slippery promise

3. (obsolete) Liable to slip; not standing firm.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 84:

     Which when they fall, as being slippery standers, / The love that leaned on them, as slippery too, / Do one pluck down another, and together / Die in the fall.

4. Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
   • 1668, Sir John Denham

     He looking down
     With scorn or pity on the slippery state
     Of kings, will tread upon the neck of fate.

5. (obsolete) Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.
   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I. ii. 273:

     My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess –

Synonyms

• (of a surface): greasy, slick, slimy, slippy, wet

Antonyms

• (of a surface): sticky

Derived terms

Related terms

• slip

Translations