Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#SLITHERCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#SLITHER slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#SLITHERCategory:English terms derived from Old English#SLITHER slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#SLITHERCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#SLITHER *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#SLITHER *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide +‎ -er (frequentative suffix)Category:English terms suffixed with -er (frequentative)#SLITHER. Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪð.ə(ɹ)/Category:English 2-syllable words#SLITHERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SLITHER

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#SLITHER
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪð.ɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#SLITHERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SLITHER
• Rhymes: -ɪðə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ɪðə(ɹ)#SLITHERCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪðə(ɹ)/2 syllables#SLITHER

Verb

slither (third-person singular simple present slithers, present participle slithering, simple past and past participle slithered)Category:English lemmas#SLITHERCategory:English verbs#SLITHERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SLITHERCategory:Pages with entries#SLITHERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#SLITHER

1. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SLITHER) To move about smoothly and from side to side.
   • 1981, Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark:

     [Indiana:] Wave it at anything that slithers.
     [Marion:] The whole place is slithering!

     Category:English terms with quotations#SLITHER

   • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:

     She also had a map of the building, not that it was very large, and she'd memorized the layout. The guard station would be right around the corner, and there ought to be a counter about the height of a half-wall looking out over the corridor with only a bulletin board on the opposite wall. She crouched down, and slithered left.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SLITHER

2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#SLITHER) To slide.
   • 1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Routes”, in Railway Magazine, page 128:

     Some snow slides recorded have exceeded a million tons and slithered down the mountain-side at a speed of 60 miles an hour.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SLITHER

   • 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^[sic] my fingers.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SLITHER

Adjective

slitherCategory:English lemmas#SLITHERCategory:English adjectives#SLITHERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SLITHERCategory:Pages with entries#SLITHERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#SLITHER

1. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#SLITHER) Slithery; slippery.

Noun

slither (countable and uncountable, plural slithers)Category:English lemmas#SLITHERCategory:English nouns#SLITHERCategory:English uncountable nouns#SLITHERCategory:English countable nouns#SLITHERCategory:English countable nouns#SLITHERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SLITHERCategory:Pages with entries#SLITHERCategory:Pages with 1 entry#SLITHER

1. A limestone rubble.
2. (nonstandardCategory:English nonstandard terms#SLITHER, see usage notes) A sliver.

See also

• sliver

Anagrams

• Hirtles, Hitlers, Shitler, relisht