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Noun
There may be no more magical feeling than catching sight of the aurora borealis while dressed in a bathrobe and slippers on a boat.—Nicholas Derenzo, AFAR Media, 21 Mar. 2025 The pumps were one of several pairs of red slippers Garland wore during the movie; three pairs are still out there.—Laura Barcella, People.com, 18 Mar. 2025 Looking mighty non-nervous and just like a rock star, Victoria Herbert came all decked out, from the pink feathers in her hair down to her fluffy pink house slippers.—Anita Gosch, Orange County Register, 9 Mar. 2025 In fashion, Walmart is offering unbeatable prices on cozy robes, family PJ sets, puffer coats, boots and slippers from brands like Levi’s and Reebok.—Maria Correa, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for slipper
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English slipir, sliper "causing something to slide or slip, deceitful," going back to Old English slipor, sliper, going back to Germanic *slip-ra- (whence also Old High German sleffar "sloping downward"), adjective derivative from the base of Germanic *sleipan- (strong verb) "to slide, slip" (whence Middle Dutch slīpen "to smooth, polish, sharpen," Middle Low German, "to glide, sink, slip," Old High German slīfan "to slide, pass away, decline"), of uncertain origin
Note:
The adjective slipper has been effectively replaced by its derivative slippery, though the former was in existence in dialect late enough to be noticed by the Survey of English Dialects, which recorded it in Devon and Cornwall (see Survey of English Dialects: The Dictionary and Grammar, Routledge, 1994, s.v.). — The Germanic verb has been compared with Greek olibrón, glossed by Hesychius with olisthērón "slippery," though the assumption of an Indo-European etymon *h3slib-ro-, with both *b and a laryngeal preceding a sibilant, seems questionable. Parallel to *sleipan- is a verb *sleupan- "to creep, glide," which has been explained as a secondary formation based on near-synonymous *sleuban- (see slip entry 5, sleeve). As all these bases are ultimately of phonesthemic origin and can presumably be reshaped by variation of phonesthemic origin, it is difficult to disentangle inheritance from innovation. Compare slip entry 1.
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