Our editors are constantly testing shoes across every footwear category, from flip flops to sneakers to slippers.—Cai Cramer, Peoplemag, 18 June 2024 Maddalena, with Heritage Auctions, has sold two other pairs of ruby slippers.—NPR, 18 June 2024 Hathaway is not the only famous person fond of baring all 10 toes in these fishnet slippers.—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 17 June 2024 In Signature Shearling Upgrade your lounging experience at home with these cozy shearling slippers.—Wendy Vazquez, Southern Living, 12 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for slipper
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slipper.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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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