/slɪk/
OriginFrom Middle English slicke, slike, slyke, from Old English slīc (“sleek, smooth; crafty, cunning, slick”), from Proto-Germanic *slīkaz (“sleek, smooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyg-, *sleyǵ- (“to glide, smooth, spread”).
Akin to Dutch sluik, dialectal Dutch sleek (“even, smooth”), Old Norse slíkr (“sleek, smooth”), Old English slician (“to make sleek, smooth, or glossy”).
- Slippery or smooth due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances.
“This rain is making the roads slick.”
“The top coating of lacquer gives this finish a slick look.”
“His large round head was shaved slick.”
- Sleek; smooth.
- Appearing expensive or sophisticated.
“They read all kinds of slick magazines.”
- Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.
“That new sales rep is slick. Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything.”
“The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad: in one characteristically slick and chilling Isis video – entitled “a message to the Jordanian tyrant” – a smilin”
- often, sarcasticClever, making an apparently hard task look easy.
“Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick.”
“That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car.”
“I leave the train at Salisbury, where (in a very slick operation) another two-car set is added to the front of the train before it heads for London.”
- USExtraordinarily great or special.
“That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features!”
- A covering of liquid, particularly oil.
“Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.”
“The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.”
- US, broadly, datedA rapidly-expanding ring of dark water, resembling an oil slick, around the site of a large underwater explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress through the water of the shock wave generated by the explosion.
- Someone who is clever and untrustworthy.
- A tool used to make something smooth or even.
- A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing.
“You'll go much faster if you put on slicks.”
- US, slangA helicopter.
- A camera-ready image to be used by a printer. The "slick" is photographed to produce a negative image which is then used to burn a positive offset plate or other printing device.
“The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer.”
- slangA glossy magazine.
“Many of the stories in SSB [Sex Behind Bars] first appeared in gay slicks, Mandate, Honcho, First Hand, et al.”
“When Carver, wild to be published in a major slick, decided to accept the changes, Maryann accused him “of being a whore, of selling out to the establishment.””
- A wide paring chisel used in joinery.
- slangIn omegaverse fiction, the copious, lubricating bodily fluid produced by an omega in heat.
“I spent two fucking days locked up in that hotel room, miserable and hating myself and drenched in my own slick!”
“For his ruts, Castiel orders slick from a single donor, who is, unbeknownst to him, Dean, who lives at the Roadhouse and is in contact with many of his colleagues and rescuees.”
“She observed another parallel to menstruation, namely the abundance of 'slick' that Omegas produce when they go into heat, which mainly functions as an anal lubricant.”
- slangA silver coin that has been worn to the point its surface feels smooth to the touch.
“a slick doesn’t really give you anything except the satisfaction of owning it, while the hole gives you satisfaction if actually being able to see something”
“Somebody once came into the coin shop with a bunch of really well-worn junk silver that would commonly be called "slicks."”
- To make slick.
“The surface had been slicked.”
“So I slicked the broccoli with oil and seasonings and set it to roast.”
- A term of address, generally applied to males, possibly including strangers, implying that the person addressed is slick in the sense of "sophisticated", but often used sarcastically.
“That was a great move locking your keys in the car, Slick.”
“Don't you look good tonight, Slick!”
Formsslicker(comparative) · slickest(superlative) · slicks(plural) · slicks(present, singular, third-person) · slicking(participle, present) · slicked(participle, past) · slicked(past)