v. i. [ imp. Backslid p. p. Backslidden Backslid; p. pr. & vb. n. Backsliding. ] [ Back, adv. + slide. ] To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who backslides. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. 1. The slipping down of a mass of land from a mountain, hill, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The land which slips down. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An election victory in which the winning candidate receives a substantial majority of the votes, usually meaning at least ten per cent more than any opposing candidate. [ PJC ]

4. Any overwhelming victory. [ PJC ]

v. i. To slide outward, onward, or forward; to advance by sliding. [ Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

At last our grating keels outslide. Whittier. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To slide over or by. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. Slid p. p. Slidden Slid; p. pr. & vb. n. Slidding ] [ OE. sliden, AS. slīdan; akin to MHG. slīten, also to AS. slidor slippery, E. sled, Lith. slidus slippery. Cf. Sled. ] 1. To move along the surface of any body by slipping, or without walking or rolling; to slip; to glide; as, snow slides down the mountain's side. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Especially, to move over snow or ice with a smooth, uninterrupted motion, as on a sled moving by the force of gravity, or on the feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

They bathe in summer, and in winter slide. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To pass inadvertently. [ 1913 Webster ]

Beware thou slide not by it. Ecclus. xxviii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To pass along smoothly or unobservedly; to move gently onward without friction or hindrance; as, a ship or boat slides through the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ages shall slide away without perceiving. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Parts answering parts shall slide into a whole. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To slip when walking or standing; to fall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deut. xxxii. 35. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mus.) To pass from one note to another with no perceptible cassation of sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To pass out of one's thought as not being of any consequence. [ Obs. or Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With good hope let he sorrow slide. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

With a calm carelessness letting everything slide. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to slide; to thrust along; as, to slide one piece of timber along another. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To pass or put imperceptibly; to slip; as, to slide in a word to vary the sense of a question. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. slīde. ] 1. The act of sliding; as, a slide on the ice. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Smooth, even passage or progress. [ 1913 Webster ]

A better slide into their business. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That on which anything moves by sliding. Specifically: (a) An inclined plane on which heavy bodies slide by the force of gravity, esp. one constructed on a mountain side for conveying logs by sliding them down. (b) A surface of ice or snow on which children slide for amusement. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. That which operates by sliding. Specifically: (a) A cover which opens or closes an aperture by sliding over it. (b) (Mach.) A moving piece which is guided by a part or parts along which it slides. (c) A clasp or brooch for a belt, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A plate or slip of glass on which is a picture or delineation to be exhibited by means of a magic lantern, stereopticon, or the like; a plate on which is an object to be examined with a microscope. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The descent of a mass of earth, rock, or snow down a hill or mountain side; as, a land slide, or a snow slide; also, the track of bare rock left by a land slide. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Geol.) A small dislocation in beds of rock along a line of fissure. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mus.) (a) A grace consisting of two or more small notes moving by conjoint degrees, and leading to a principal note either above or below. (b) An apparatus in the trumpet and trombone by which the sounding tube is lengthened and shortened so as to produce the tones between the fundamental and its harmonics. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Phonetics) A sound which, by a gradual change in the position of the vocal organs, passes imperceptibly into another sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Steam Engine) (a) Same as Guide bar, under Guide. (b) A slide valve. [ 1913 Webster ]

Slide box (Steam Engine), a steam chest. See under Steam. --
Slide lathe, an engine lathe. See under Lathe. --
Slide rail, a transfer table. See under Transfer. --
Slide rest (Turning lathes), a contrivance for holding, moving, and guiding, the cutting tool, made to slide on ways or guides by screws or otherwise, and having compound motion. --
Slide rule, a mathematical instrument consisting of two parts, one of which slides upon the other, for the mechanical performance of addition and subtraction, and, by means of logarithmic scales, of multiplication and division. --
Slide valve. (a) Any valve which opens and closes a passageway by sliding over a port. (b) A particular kind of sliding valve, often used in steam engines for admitting steam to the piston and releasing it, alternately, having a cuplike cavity in its face, through which the exhaust steam passes. It is situated in the steam chest, and moved by the valve gear. It is sometimes called a D valve, -- a name which is also applied to a semicylindrical pipe used as a sliding valve. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the illustration, a is the cylinder of a steam engine, in which plays the piston p; b the steam chest, receiving its supply from the pipe i, and containing the slide valve s, which is shown as admitting steam to one end of the cylinder through the port e, and opening communication between the exhaust passage f and the port c, for the release of steam from the opposite end of the cylinder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The game of shovelboard. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Slidder. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, slides; especially, a sliding part of an instrument or machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The red-bellied terrapin (Pseudemys rugosa). [ Local, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) any of several North American freshwater turtles of the genus Chrysemis; some, such as Chrysemis scripta are sold commercially as pets. [ RHUD ] [ PJC ]

4. (Baseball) a fast pitch that breaks slightly just in front of the batter, in the same direction as a curve ball (i. e. , away from the side from which it was thrown). [ PJC ]

Slider pump, a form of rotary pump. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a thin, flat calculating device consisting of a fixed outer piece and a movable middle piece. Both pieces are graduated in such a way (as, by a logarithmic scale) that multiplication, division, and other mathematical functions of an input variable may be rapidly determined by movement of the middle pieces to a location on one scale corresponding to the input value, and reading off the result on another scale. A movable window with a hairline assists in alignment of the scales. This device has been largely superseded by the electronic calculator, which has a greater precision than the slide rule. Also called colloquially slipstick. [ PJC ]

n. A way along which something slides. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]