The Collaborative International Dictionary
Slippery \Slip"per*y\, a. [See Slipper, a.]
Having the quality opposite to adhesiveness; allowing or causing anything to slip or move smoothly, rapidly, and easily upon the surface; smooth; glib; as, oily substances render things slippery.
-
Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise.
The slippery tops of human state.
--Cowley. -
Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away.
The slippery god will try to loose his hold.
--Dryden. Liable to slip; not standing firm.
--Shak.Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle. ``The slippery state of kings.''
--Denham.Uncertain in effect.
--L'Estrange.-
Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals. --Shak. Slippery elm. (Bot.)
An American tree ( Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself.
A malvaceous shrub ( Fremontia Californica); -- so called on the Pacific coast.