Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—S

Slip

Many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. Everything is uncertain till you possess it. (See Ancaeos.)

“Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra.” Horace.

To give one the slip. To steal off unperceived; to elude pursuit. A sea-phrase. In fastening a cable to a buoy, the home end is slipped through the hawse-pipe. To give the slip is to cut away the cable, so as to avoid the noise of weighing anchor.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Slippers
Sliding Scale
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

More on Slip from Fact Monster:

  • cutting - cutting cutting, in horticulture, part of a plant stem, leaf, or root cut off and used for ...
  • slipped disc - slipped disc slipped disc, rupture or herniation of an intervertebral disc. These discs separate ...
  • propagation by slip - slip, propagation by: slip, propagation by: see cutting.
  • slipware - slipware slipware, pottery decorated with various colors of slip, a thin mixture of clay and water. ...
  • What does it mean? proclivity - proclivity Mr. Johnson had a proclivity for money— a.) he managed to accumulate enormous ...

Related Content