Emily Dickinson Lexicon

slender, adj. [obscure origin; poss. AFr.] (webplay: insufficient, suffice, supporting, table).

1. Slim; thin; tiny; lean; small; slight; incremental.
2. Narrow; strait; [fig.] unfounded; lacking apparent support.

slice, n. [OF esclice, splinter, shiver, piece of wood.] (webplay: plate).

Fragment; sliver; thin bit; flat piece.

slide (-s, slid), v. [OE; see sled, n.] (webplay: bounding, door, down, easy, pass, practices, rolling, stopping, summer, word).

1. Pass smoothly; move with a continuous motion.
2. Slip away; move quietly; go stealthily; proceed unperceived.
3. Descend; go quickly; fall into place.
4. Push; thrust; slice; easily propel.
5. Move; thrust by slipping; [fig.] close; shut.
6. Melt; pass; change gradually.

slight (-est), adj. [ME < OScand.] (webplay: addresses, little, small, subject).

1. Light; thin; fine; wispy; airy; insubstantial; translucent or transparent.
2. Slender; slim; small; delicate; dainty.
3. Small in stature; [fig.] unimportant; trifling; insignificant in status.

slight, v. [see slight, adj.]

Disregard; disdain; refuse; reject.

slightly, adv. [see slight, adj.]

Scarcely; minimally; unobtrusively.

slily, adv. [see sly, adj.]

Covertly; secretly; stealthily; quietly.

slim, adj. [Du. 'crooked, perverse, bad, mean'.]

1. Slender; gracefully thin.
2. Long and narrow; small in diameter in proportion to height.
3. Slight; light; barely audible; almost imperceptible.

slink (slunk), v. [OE slincan, to creep, crawl (of reptiles), sink, subside.] (webplay: away, children, corner, steal).

1. Shift; tilt; [sound play on “shrink”] shrivel; wither.
2. Sneak; steal; creep away quietly.
3. Melt; fade; disappear.
4. Vanish; go stealthily.

slip (-ped, -ping, -s, slipt), v. [MLG 'slide, glide'.] (webplay: away, bank, between, foot, gradual, hand, held, pass, play, river, smooth, stem, stepping, twigs).

1. Move; leave; depart; walk away.
2. Steal; glide; shift into place.
3. Fall; drop; slide.
4. Trip; stumble; step unsteadily; nearly fall; [fig.] let go; give up; experience a setback; be unable to hold on.
5. Escape; evade; elude; bypass; surpass; break free from; [phrase “slipped it's limit”] die; pass away; transcend mortality; cross over to eternity.
6. Stagger down; sink gradually.
7. Pass; turn; slink; change gradually.
8. Descend; [fig.] die.
9. Step; sneak.
10. Phrase. “slip away”: vanish; disappear; [fig.] die.
11. Phrase. “slip away”: pass out of sight; [fig.] disappear on the horizon as the sun sets.