slip, v.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

slip v.²

1. (also come the slip) in crooked gambling, to deal from a stacked deck of cards.

1828

‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West I 143: ‘I will come the ‘slip’ so naitly that it would puzzle the vary divil to see it done’ [ibid] 144: ‘Your fingers, Friske, are so flexible you can slip famously’.

2. to give, to hand over.

1868		Reade & Boucicault Foul Play I 68: She is as beautiful as an angel, and rich enough to slip a fiver into Dick Hexham’s hands.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 30: I slipped the pilot $100 in gold.
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 6: Kindly slip me Three Dollars before you Pass out.
1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 50: He expects you every month to squeeze this beat for two hundred bones, and slip him twenty.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 169: They ain’t been a day since I couldn’t have slipped him a swift kick.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 37: By th’ time you get through slippin’ it to coppers and politicians, you ain’t got much left for your bit.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Carmen’ in Gullible’s Travels 13: He slipped me the book [...] and beat it.
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 94: Hey, cap, slip me a cigarette!
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 364: If this scheme I’m talking about is worth a thousand quid to you, will you slip it across?
1929		D. Parker ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 199: Well, slip us a little smile, then. That’s my girl.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 64: Slip us the dough before we go out. I don’t want any one to see you pestering for me. They’d make out I was a ponce or something.
1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 39: On the way out I slipped her twenty-five bucks.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 65: You’re cheap all over. You pal around with a guy, eat a few drinks, talk a few gags, slip him a little dough when he’s strapped, and you’re sold out to him.
1960		H. Pinter Caretaker Act I: I got this mate in Shepherd’s Bush [...] Always slipped me a bit of soap, any time I went in there.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 131: [H]e was booked to ride the favorite in the principal event and, before he went out to mount, was ‘slipped’ £50 from a stranger.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 49: I [...] slipped him a quid.
1981		A. Payne ‘You Need Hands’ in Minder [TV script] 4: Arthur slips him a coin.
1988		J. Healy Grass Arena (1990) 118: That was when I realized they’d slipped him some sleepers.
1995		S. Bell If... 26 June in If Files (1997) 11: How much are you prepared to slip us this time??
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 76: ‘I will return that money you slipped me as soon as I get back to Sydney’.

3. to pass on information (to), to tell tales.

1901		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 75: Cap’n Bill slipped the ‘bull con’ for the gilts.
c.1910		Harry E. Lee ‘Tough Luck’ Variety Stage Eng. Plays 🌐 For $50 I’ll slip a wise message in yer mit that will let yer gather enough glitterings ter do der fairy tale stunt and that is ‘retire’ and live happy ever after.
1916		J. Lait ‘One Touch of Art’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 208: Come on—slip me.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 165: I slipped Bingo the tip.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 5: I’m goin to slip you a bit of advice, feller.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 42: Who slipped you the lowdown on it in the firs’ place?
1932		(con. 1917–19) Dos Passos Nineteen Nineteen in USA (1966) 479: If I hear anything that ain’t a hundred per cent I slips the word to the boss.
1945		K. Amis letter 15 Dec. in Leader (2000) 23: I will then slip the gen across to you ole boy.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 66: He showed me how to operate the cash registers and slipped me the combination to the safe.
1955		‘Ed Lacy’ Best that Ever Did It (1957) 117: I’d acted like a goon last night, slipping the dope on her husband.

4. (US) to lose one’s competence, to decline.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 45: slip — (1) to deteriorate; (2) to lose an advantage.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 142: Perhaps the dope slips of his own accord.
1930		Publishers’ Weekly 22 Feb. 933/2: I must be slipping for I turned in a measly 78 on No. 4 in the Lenz-Rendel book [DA].
1945		W.R. Burnett Tomorrow’s Another Day 94: It began to get about that the Greek was slipping, not the man he used to be.
1952		W.R. Burnett Vanity Row 42: ‘Never expected to see a copper in this joint. You’re slipping, pappa’.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 36: ‘Caught him pinchin’ me oysters once.’ ‘Eh? You caught him? Gees, he must be slippin’.’.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 14: Once the addict has had his shot and is straight, he may become admirably, though briefly, industrious, suddenly deciding to shine his shoes, brush his coat, comb his hair—all the while scolding himself bitterly for having slipped so far.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 183: slip to age; lose muscle tone; to sag.

5. (orig. US black) to let one’s attention waver, to become too casual, to abandon one’s vigilance.

1993		K. Scott Monster (1994) 59: They had been sitting there for some time, slipping bad, smoking PCP.
1997–2000		College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Slip (verb) To lose control of a situation or to lose sight of reality.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 88: ‘Arrr man iim slippin 2day i swr’.
2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Slip - to be off-guard.

6. (drugs) to become somnolent after taking heroin.

[1926

Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 14/1: Slip – A shot of dope].

7. (N.Z. prison) to reoffend (and return to prison).

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 170/1: slip v. to reoffend.

In phrases

slip around (v.)

(US black) to behave promiscuously.

1974		D. Jenkins Dead Solid Perfect 153: ‘Who could have any reason to tell you that me and Donny had been slippin' around?’ she asked.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 160: Now if I slip around I don’t have kick one coming if my old lady decides to do the same.
1997		D.H. Edwards The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing 150: She come in that night and damn if she didn't fall for Walter. Fell for him! And Walter starts slipping around with her [...] 200: She'd slip around a little bit; I slip around a little bit sometimes. But we never knowed nothing.
2013		K. Koke ‘Cold Roads’ 🎵 Shits different got me pissing with my stick in hand / Fuck slipping I’d rather make it click and bang.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

slip-gibbet (n.) (also slip-halter) [SE slip, to escape + gibbet, the gallows]

1. a thief or pickpocket or one who associates with them.

1659		Greene & Lodge Lady Alimony IV vi: Why; you whoorson Rogue; where’s my suit? As I hope for mercy, I am half perswaded, that this slip-halter has pawn’d my Cloathes.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1851		Durham Co. Advertiser 25 July 8/4: John Wilson, alias ‘Young Slip-halter’ of Hartlepool, charged with stealing a shooting-coat.

2. used as an insult, whether of a professional criminal or not; lit. one who (unfairly) escapes being deservedly hanged.

1748		Ipswich Jrnl 12 Mar. 3/2: Last Saturday William Denny Fox, and Samuel Custins, alias Slip-Gibbet, were brought from Yarmouth, and committed to the County Gaol in this Town.
1826		Bury & Norwich Post 29 Mar. 2/2: [T]he plaintiff had first insulted the defendant by calling him ‘Ginger- bread Jack,’ or ‘Slip-gibbet’.
1830		Berks. Chron. 20 Nov. 3/2: I said Mr. Arundell is coming after you, you ‘slip gibbet,’ on which he went out. I said that to him in joke, thinking would he frightened, having laid about for some time without work.
1837		Canterbury Jrnl 13 May 4/4: When Mr. Wakley, one of the radical members [...] appeared on the hustings [...] some slip-gibbet threw a halter on the hustings.
1855		Caledonian Mercury 1 Mar. 3/8: Mr Finlen, in abusing the French Emperor, to whom he gave the odd name of a ‘slip gibbet,’ set no bounds to his indignation.
1858		Guardian 25 Feb. 4/3: Finlen [...] said he had on previous occasions designated Louis Napoleon a ‘slip-gibbet’.

In phrases

slip... (v.)

see also under relevant n.

slip a cog (v.) [engineering imagery]

1. to diminish, to lose value.

1910

Dundee Eve. Teleg. 26 Dec. 5/3: The man whose prosperity had slipped a cog or two recently.

2. to blunder.

1900		Bournemouth Dly Echo 30 Nov. 4/6: ‘He who goeth out to shear may slip a cog and come back without any wool under his arm!’.
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 222: slip a cog, to miss a calculation, or do something indiscreet or foolish.
1918		B.E.F. Times 22 Jan. (2006) 291/2: Don’t slip a cog on the last guys like I did, they are not punk soldiers.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 50: slip a cog. To make an error unconsciously.
1934		Portsmouth Eve. News 22 Aug. 6/5: [headline] When the Mind Slips a Cog — The memory’s odd tricks.

slip a fast one (over) (v.)

see under fast one n.

slip a gear (v.)

(US) to lose emotional control.

1923		Burlington Free Press (VT) 21 Feb. 12/5: ‘By Jing!’ [...] justice often slips a gear and killers, if of tender age [...] go forth to elevate the stage.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 22: I dunno, it was reflex [...] Ain’t like me, and that’s a fact. Like I slipped a gear.

slip a mickey (v.)

see under mickey finn n.

slip around (v.)

see sense 4 above.

slip five (v.)

see slap five under five n.²

slip in Daintie Davie (v.) (also slip in Willie Wallace)

(Scot.) of a man, to have sexual intercourse; thus Daintie Davie, a penis.

1786		Burns The Jolly Beggars in Works (1842) 12/2: A sailor rak’d her fore and aft, Behint the chicken cavie. Her lord [...] He hirpl’d up, and lap like daft, And shor’d them Dainty Davie O boot that night.
c.1800		Burns ‘Dainty Davie’ Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 97: I’ll ne’er forget what he pat i’ my hand, / It was a dainty Davie.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues III 207/2: [...] slip in Daintie Davie (Scots’) or Willie Wallace (idem).

slip in(to) (v.)

1. to beat; thus let slip at, to attack violently.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 218: Slip, or let slip ‘to slip into a man,’ to give him a sound beating; ‘to let slip’ at a cove,’ to rush violently upon him, and assault with vigour.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 82/1: If the big cove with the moustachios, as I’ve seen gets sneaking after her, I’ll slip into him.
1894		Dover Exp. 17 Aug. 6/3: ‘What did the defendent do?’ Witness: ‘Banged her’ [...] ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Slipped into her [...] paid her well [...] let her have it.’ What is that? ’ ‘Hit her with his fist’.
1905		Marvel III:57 12: Right thar I started slippin’ into ’em.

2. to set about a task enthusiastically.

1885

Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 22/4: Hardly had her eyes closed, than the champion mean woman of Boulia slipped into the invalid’s duck, and by the time the sleeper had awakened, there wasn’t enough of the defunct ‘quacker’ left to feed a blow-fly.

3. of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

c.1920

E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 7: Chorus: Oh, rub my tits and belly, / And slip in my slimy slough.

slip it across (v.)

1. to fool, to ‘do down’, to upset.

1934

Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 41: This seemed to slip it across him properly.

2. to hit, to punch.

1921

N&Q 12 Ser. IX 425: Slip (or Put) It Across Him. Hit a man with one’s fists.

slip it into (v.)

to attack verbally.

1923

Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 31: Bit of luck finding someone to slip it into first crack out of the box.

slip it to (v.) (also slip it in, …into, ...over)

1. of a man, to have sexual intercourse (with a woman).

1934		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 60: Well, my stenographer’s a pretty lively sort, and of course I have to slip it into her now and then during the day.
1949		J.H. Burns Lucifer with a Book 102: I’m slippin the green banana to three at once. Broth-er ...
1959		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 172: The next time I saw her / She was all dressed in green, [...] I slipped it in between.
1961		E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 273: As a junior she was cherry, / Then one night when she got merry, / Drank too much whiskey and gin, / And her boy friend slipped it in.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 42: Square broads [...] gotta make a big fuss before they let a guy slip it in.
1967		F. Sargeson Hangover 105: So he plied her with wine, and he plied her with cake, / And he slipped it over Molly coming home from the wake.
a.1969		‘The Stinkin’ Cow’ in G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 231: They saw a bull, so vigor full, / A-slippin’ it to a cow.
1975		T. Berger Sneaky People (1980) 143: Every once in a while he would take her under the bandstand and slip it to her.
1979		S. King Long Walk in Bachman Books (1995) 296: I’d bet my dog and lot you never slipped it to that girl of yours.
2002		S. Maloney Something Fishy (2006) 74: That waitress, the one he’s been slipping it to.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 32: [A]ny other extraneous cooze those whipdicks are slipping it to.

2. to speak, to inform.

1914		Day Book (Chicago) 5 Mar. 8/1: One of them agent guys slipped it to me agen the other nite, I’ve got a grate show, he says to me.
1946		R.L. Bellem ‘Latin Blood’ in Speed Detective Aug. 🌐 ‘I’m slipping it to you straight, Sherlock,‘ he said.

slip off the hooks (v.)

to die.

1909

D. Stewart Dead Man’s Gold in Illus. Police News 27 Feb. 12/1: ‘Did he tell you, before he slipped off the hooks, that you were to have that bundle of bank-notes you were collaring’.

slip one over on (v.)

see put one over (on) under one n.¹

slip one’s anchor (v.) [naut. imagery]

(Aus.) to leave, esp. surreptitiously.

1905

Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Dec. 32/1: Then Koponey slipped his anchor an’ made a dinnyaiser for this lake.

slip one’s cable (v.) [naut. imagery]

1. to die; to abscond; thus slip someone’s cable, to kill; to abscond from; someone’s cable is parted/untwisted/run out, a person is dead.

1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 392: I told him [a doctor] as how I could slip my cable without his direction or assistance, so he hauled off in dudgeon.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 478: The cable of his life untwisted: / For hector lent it such a spanker.
1801		C. Dibdin Yngr Song Smith 72: His wife slipt her cable with some pirate dog. [Ibid.] 117 : Old Davy contriv’d my dad’s cable to slip, One day when o’erladen with whiskey.
1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) viii: A fine, good–looking young fellow, who seemed to be just about slipping his cable and bidding this here world [...] a last farewell.
1838		‘Nights At Sea’ in Bentley’s Misc. Apr. 594: ‘His cable’s parted, Andy!’ says the leftenant, laying him gently on the deck.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 1 Oct. n.p.: A badger belonging to a gentleman of this city ‘slipped his cable’ and got under the floor.
1843		T. Hood ‘Confessions of a Phoenix’ Works (1862) VI 233: What, hopped the twig? – kicked the bucket? – bowled out? – gone to pot? – mizzled? – ticked off? – struck off the roster? – slipped your cable?
1856		Sherborne Mercury 29 Apr. 6/3: The ‘last escape’ of this convict [...] has lately been repported. It appears [...] he slipped his cable on Tuesday week, in broad daylight.
1859		Scotsman 16 Sept. 2/2: It has become a common phrase [...] when a person dies they say he has slipped his cable.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 360/1: My wife took ill too – and [...] I brings her to London, but her cable had run out, and she died.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 427: Dick is gone. He stuck out to the last, and died like a bushranger [...] just slipped his cable, and went up.
1892		‘’Arry in ’Arrygate’ in Punch 24 Sept. 133/1: He’s a slipping his cable and drifting out seawards, if I’m any judge.
1902		W.W. Jacobs ‘Bill’s Paper Chase’ in Monkey’s Paw (1962) 49: The next day Thomas was worse, and it was soon clear to everybody but ’im that ’e was slipping ’is cable.
1914		‘Bartimeus’ ‘A Picturesque Ceremony’ in Naval Occasions 279: An’ I’ve got something to tell you: something pressin’. You must come soon; I’m slippin’ my cable.
1936		(con. 1895) T. O’Reilly Tiger of the Legion 81: [A]t New York, as I had planned, I ‘slipped my cable’, and started a new life in the United States .

2. to lose consciousness.

1906

Sun. Times (Perth) 8 Apr. 4/8: Drakey’s efforts in makin’ such a big score an’ takin’ so many wickets made ’im slip ’is cable.

slip one’s elbow (v.)

to have an illegitimate child.

1999

Indep. Rev. 2 Nov. 8: ‘She slipped her elbow,’ meaning some unfortunate girl had had a baby out of wedlock.

slip one’s wind (v.) [naut. imagery]

to die.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 211: If I should chance to slip my wind / And leave my loving wife behind.
1797		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Six’ Works (1801) V 3: What! no rich Father has slipp’d his wind, And left a hogshead of Bank-notes behind?
1800		G.S. Carey ‘The Loaves and the Fishes’ in One Thousand Eight Hundred 43: Should a Judge slip his wind, the first legal wish is, / That they may be bench’d near the Loaves and the Fishes.
1826		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II 131: An old female miser [...] being about to slip her wind and make a wind-up of her accounts.
1834		Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 301: He’s a confounded fool, Peter [...] he thinks I am slipping my wind now – but I know better; going I am, ’tis true – but I shan’t die till next Thursday.
1841		W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 547: Up, out of that, you hound, and slip your wind.
1856		C. Reade It Is Never Too Late to Mend n.p.: Give him the right stuff, doctor [...] and he won’t slip his wind this time [F&H].
1869		Southern Reporter (Selkirkshire) 27 May 3/4: Captain Jones took the yellow fever and slipped his wind.
1887		Eve. Star (Lonon) 1 Apr. 3/1: It is a pity that this horse has ‘slipped his wind’.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 24/2: More than one poor devil in the very throes of death had been denounced as ‘shamming’ by the prison-officers who had charge of him, and [...] one Norfolk Island constable swore, at an inquiry into a prisoner’s death, that ‘deceased “slipped his wind” just to spite him’.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Sept. 4/7: We have relicts who have battled / Since the old man slipped his wind.
1913		Truth (Perth) 1 Mar. 5/5: ‘Can't de done, Sir, / Number Ninety’s slipped his wind!’.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 261: Slip One’s Wind: To die.

slip someone one (v.)

(Aus.) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

2000

R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] Shit! I wouldn’t have minded slipping her one.

slip someone on the blocks (v.)

see put the blocks to under block n.¹

slip something over on (v.) (also slip something to, slip up on)

to deceive, to take advantage of in a surreptitious manner.

1914		R. Lardner You Know Me Al (1984) 121: If he tries to slip something over on me I will tell president Johnson of the league all about it.
1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 21: I’ve been trying to figure out ever since, whether I slipped something to him, or he to me.
1927		K. Nicholson Barker II i: He’ll try slippin’ somethin’ over on me, will he!
1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 57: Dat boy slipped up on me, but Ahm gwine git even wid him.

slip the calf (v.)

see cast the calf under cast v.

slip the painter (v.) [naut. imagery]

(Aus.) to vanish, to run away.

1927

C. Drew ‘Grafter and Goose’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. n.p.: Sand Storm [...] shot past the brown horse [...] ‘I’m gone,’the Grafter said [...] I’m gone to the flamin’ pack. I think I’ll slip the painter’.

slip up (v.) (Aus.)

1. to defraud, to swindle.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Aug. 6/3: A venerable pedagogue somewhere in Victoria has sent in to the Education Department conscience money amounting to £35. In the year 1863 he slipped up the Office by a dexterous manipulation of returns to the extent of £4.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Dec. 37/1: ‘You --- cow,’ he said, ‘ter slip me up!’ [...] ‘I never – straight wire – I never— I forgot all about it – I did – lookin’ at Ginger.’.
1903		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Dec. 38/2: Now, look here, you two. You’ve slipped me up several times before. You’re both good men if you like, but you never finish a job without one or more sprees.

2. in weakened use, to let down, to disappoint.

1895		Coburg Leader (Vic.) 5 Oct. 4/1: Who were the boys that waited [...] for their girls at the corner of Moreland-road for two hours and were slipped up.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 18 Feb. 4/8: You know ’ow a bloke feels when ’is Tom slips ’im up.
1918		Aussie (France) 5 June 5/1: It was a free treat for Diggers, so I went with him, cursin’ all the way because I was slippin’ up the bonzer little girl waitin’ outside the restaurant.

slip v.2

In phrases

SE in slang uses

In compounds

In phrases

slip v.²