Other in-room amenities like child-sized robes, slippers, and baby bathtime sets are sure to impress.—Wendy Altschuler, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2024 Luckily, this Fourth of July, Zappos is dropping deals on walking shoes, running sneakers, sandals, slippers, and, yes, Crocs.—Sara Coughlin, SELF, 2 July 2024 Plus, these plush flip-flop slippers are a must-have for anyone that doesn’t want to sacrifice coziness, no matter the temperature outside.—Clara McMahon, Peoplemag, 1 July 2024 The 33-year-old completed the look, which is essentially daytime pajamas, with a pair of black slippers and boxy black sunglasses.—Sam Reed, Glamour, 26 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for slipper
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slipper.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English slipir, sliper "causing something to slide or slip, deceitful," going back to Old English slipor, sliper, going back to Germanic *slip-ra- (whence also Old High German sleffar "sloping downward"), adjective derivative from the base of Germanic *sleipan- (strong verb) "to slide, slip" (whence Middle Dutch slīpen "to smooth, polish, sharpen," Middle Low German, "to glide, sink, slip," Old High German slīfan "to slide, pass away, decline"), of uncertain origin
Note:
The adjective slipper has been effectively replaced by its derivative slippery, though the former was in existence in dialect late enough to be noticed by the Survey of English Dialects, which recorded it in Devon and Cornwall (see Survey of English Dialects: The Dictionary and Grammar, Routledge, 1994, s.v.). — The Germanic verb has been compared with Greek olibrón, glossed by Hesychius with olisthērón "slippery," though the assumption of an Indo-European etymon *h3slib-ro-, with both *b and a laryngeal preceding a sibilant, seems questionable. Parallel to *sleipan- is a verb *sleupan- "to creep, glide," which has been explained as a secondary formation based on near-synonymous *sleuban- (see slip entry 5, sleeve). As all these bases are ultimately of phonesthemic origin and can presumably be reshaped by variation of phonesthemic origin, it is difficult to disentangle inheritance from innovation. Compare slip entry 1.
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