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Noun
Sitting out on her sunny pool deck in an oversized sweater, frayed jeans and slippers with minimal makeup, Moore exudes lightness and positivity.—Mara Reinstein, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2025 The new locker room is stocked with complimentary essentials like hand warmers, lip balm, sunscreen, and slippers for relaxing in the lounge upstairs.—Lydia Price, Travel + Leisure, 22 Feb. 2025 Brunch, a brand inspired by making everyday a vacation, has an extensive capsule collection emblazoned with the fictional White Lotus Resort Collection logo, including tote bags, baseball caps and hotel slippers.—Brett F. Braley-Palko, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025 Crocs slippers are less than $35 for a limited time only
🦅 Nature is metal!—Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 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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