Wiktionary

slick

See also: Slick

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From 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”).

Adjective

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slick (comparative slicker, superlative slickest)

  1. 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.
  2. Sleek; smooth.
  3. Appearing expensive or sophisticated.
    They read all kinds of slick magazines.
  4. Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.
    That new sales rep is slick. Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything.
    • 2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:
      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 smiling, long-haired young man in black pats the explosive belt round his waist as he burns his passport and his fellow fighters praise the memory of Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
  5. (often sarcastic) Clever, making an apparently hard task easy.
    Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick.
    That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car.
    • 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:
      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.
  6. (US, West Coast slang) Extraordinarily great or special.
    That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features!
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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slick (plural slicks)

  1. 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.
  2. (by extension, hydrodynamics, US, dated) A 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.
  3. Someone who is clever and untrustworthy.
  4. A tool used to make something smooth or even.
  5. (sports, automotive) 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.
    Synonyms: slick tire, slick tyre
  6. (US, military slang) A helicopter.
  7. (printing) 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.
  8. (publishing, slang) A glossy magazine.
    • 1981 December 1, Freddie Greenfield, “Insulting Prison Porn”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 11:
      Many of the stories in SSB [Sex Behind Bars] first appeared in gay slicks, Mandate, Honcho, First Hand, et al.
    • 2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      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.”
  9. A wide paring chisel used in joinery.
  10. (fandom slang) In omegaverse fiction, the copious, lubricating bodily fluid produced by an omega in heat.
    • 2017, "Tessa on Ice", quoted in Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega?: Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 41:
      I spent two fucking days locked up in that hotel room, miserable and hating myself and drenched in my own slick!
    • 2019, Tessa Barone, "Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fandom's Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe", thesis submitted to Oregon State University, page 32:
      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.
    • 2019, Chris van der Vegt, "The Second Genders: Utopia and Dystopia in​ Stranger Things Omegaverse Fanfiction", thesis submitted to Utrecht University, page 23:
      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.
  11. (slang) A silver coin that has been worn to the point it's surface feels smooth to the touch.
    • 2019 January 30, winghurro, “I know it’s a slick, but is it worth anything more than spot because it’s a first year issue?”, in Reddit‎[2]:
    • 2021 February 16, hotwheelsearl, “Would you rather have a slick coin with barely any details, or a holed one with good details?”, in CoinTalk.com‎[3]:
      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
    • 2014 January 6, CaptHenway, “How much metal is lost by weight from wear during circulation?”, in NGC Forums‎[4]:
      Somebody once came into the coin shop with a bunch of really well-worn junk silver that would commonly be called "slicks."
Coordinate terms
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(phenomenon from underwater explosion):

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Verb

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slick (third-person singular simple present slicks, present participle slicking, simple past and past participle slicked)

  1. To make slick.
    The surface had been slicked.
    • 2009 January 14, Melissa Clark, “Green, Gold and Pink: Fast, Easy and Delicious”, in New York Times‎[5]:
      So I slicked the broccoli with oil and seasonings and set it to roast.
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Translations
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Adverb

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slick (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of sleek (“with ease and dexterity”)
    (Can we find and add a quotation of William Le Queux to this entry?)
    We're just following a couple of crooks who've got slick away in that two-funnelled boat yonder, and we mean to keep in touch with them till they land.

Etymology 2

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Noun

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slick

  1. Alternative form of schlich

Further reading

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Anagrams

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