See Also: supergene(medicine)
supergene(1)(dictionary)
supergene(2)(dictionary)

slippery (iou) and supergene (medicine)


slippery (iou)



slippery adjective. L15.
[from SLIPPER adjective + -Y1, perh. after Luther's schlipfferig (Middle High German schlipferig).]
Difficult to stand on, grip, or hold because of smoothness, wetness, or sliminess of surface; on which slipping is easy or likely; slipping readily from any hold or grasp; of a soft oily or greasy consistency. L15.
V. Woolf Guillemots whose feathers are slippery with oil. G. Greene The road was slippery after the rain. K. Amis He..picked up a slippery fried egg.
b. (Of the bowels) loose, open; (of Food) laxative. M16-M18.
Of the tongue: talking too freely. rare. E16.
Unstable, uncertain, insecure; that cannot be relied on; fickle, untrustworthy, insincere, shifty, deceitful. M16.
C. Cotton Th' slippery Trick he meant to play her. W. Bagehot Families owning..a slippery allegiance to a single head. J. K. Jerome Such a slippery customer as King John.
Liable or prone to slip; readily giving way. Also, (of the memory) forgetful. Now rare or obsolete. M16.
Able to slip away or escape easily; difficult to catch or hold, elusive. L16.
Licentious, unchaste; of doubtful morality. Now rare. L16.
Designed to reduce air resistance; streamlined. colloq. L20.
Special collocations: slippery dip Austral. a children's playground slide. slippery elm the N. American red elm, Ulmus rubra; (more fully slippery elm bark) the mucilaginous inner bark of this tree, used medicinally as a demulcent etc. slippery hitch Nautical a knot made fast by catching part of the rope beneath the bight, released by pulling on the free end. slippery pole = GREASY pole. slippery slope fig. a course leading to disaster or destruction.
slipperily adverb E17.
slipperiness noun E16.

supergene (medicine)


supergene
<genetics, molecular biology> A group of neighboring genes on a chromosome that tend to be inherited together and sometimes are functionally related.