slimy

From Middle English slymy, slimi, either derived from the noun Old English slīm or an unattested *slīmiġ, replacing Old English slipig (“slippy”). Equivalent to slime +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch slijmig, slijmerig (“slimy”), German schleimig (“slimy; smarmy”), Swedish slemmig (“slimy”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈslaɪ.mi/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪmi

slimy (comparative slimier, superlative slimiest)

1. Of or pertaining to slime
2. resembling, of the nature of, covered or daubed with, or abounding in slime

   Synonyms: viscous, glutinous

   The frog's body was all slimy.

   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere:

     Slimy things did crawl with legs
     Upon the slimy sea.

3. (slang, figuratively) Friendly in a false, calculating way; underhanded; two-faced; sneaky; slick; smarmy.
   • 1994, Jim Ranie, Jargodin: The Moonlighter, Brisbane: Jim Ranie, page 83:

     "I looked at this moon-faced, smooth skinned, slimy fraud, with his patronising smile."

• (slippery) lubricous
• (underhanded) conniving

slimy (plural slimies)

1. A ponyfish.

• ILYSM, misly, smily