| 释义 |
▪ I. slick, n.1|slɪk|
[f. slick a. or v.]
1.
†a. A cosmetic, an unguent. Obs.
1626tr. Boccalini's New-found Politick 233 My face..is done ouer with Ladies licks, slicks, and other painting stuffe of the Levant.
b. Carpentry. (See quot.)
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2208 Slick, a wide-bitted chisel, used by framers in paring the sides of mortises and tenons.
c. An implement used for slicking; a slicker.
1883Archæol. Cant. XV. 103, I have..discovered..some elegant slicks or scrapers of peculiar form. Ibid., When trimmed on one side only, such a flake [of flint] was used as a scraper or slick.
†2. Card-playing. (See quot. 1674.) Obs.
1674Cotton Compl. Gamester (1680) 94 The Slick is when before-hand the Gamester takes a Pack of Cards, and with a slick-stone smooths all the Putt-Cards. 1711Puckle The Club (1817) 23 The bent, the slick, the breef, the spur.
3. a. orig. U.S. A smooth place or streak on the surface of water, usually caused by the presence of some oily or greasy substance. spec. A floating mass of oil. Also transf. (Cf. sleek n.3)
1849D. Webster Priv. Corr. II. 333 You have seen on the surface of the sea, those smooth places, which fishermen and sailors call ‘slicks’. 1857Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 228, I emptied the melted pork..into the lake, making what sailors call a ‘slick’. 1888Goode Amer. Fishes 210 They..leave in their track similar ‘slicks’ of oil and blood. [1889, etc: see oil slick s.v. oil n.1 6 e.] 1938Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 30 July 1/8 The slick..caused by oil from the ‘Hawaii Clipper’. 1950Jrnl. Marine Res. IX. 69 Artificial slicks form in harbor waters contaminated with refuse and oil. 1973Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 9 Mar. 12/2 You can see the mouse-run quite clearly because of the slick of oil which all rodents leave behind on walls and floors if they regularly move along a particular route. 1982H. Innes Black Tide ii. i. 28 The slick now stretched in a great smooth, brown, greasy layer right across the bay.
b. Mining. (See quot.)
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. 225 Slicks, smooth partings or mere planes of division in strata.
c. A place on the hair or fur of an animal which has been made sleek by licking or the like.
1891in Cent. Dict.
4. A dash or stroke.
1881E. Coxon Basil Plant II. 226 ‘Isn't it wonderful?’ said one, ‘painted with just two slicks of the brush’.
5. U.S. A wild, unbranded horse, cow, or other range animal; a maverick.
1890Stock Grower & Farmer 12 July 6/3 Seven of them were branded, the remainder were ‘slicks’, or horses which had run wild from birth. 1934in J. A. & A. Lomax Amer. Ballads xvi. 411 No maverick or slick will be tallied In that great book of life in His home. 1965G. Shepherd West of Yesterday xiv. 127 By picking up slicks or unbranded cattle on the way—gathered a nice little herd.
6. U.S. An expensive or ‘glossy’ magazine (opp. pulp magazine s.v. pulp n. 5 c).
1934Writer Mar. 73/2 Perhaps he [sc. the author] gets an offer for two hundred dollars from one of the ‘slicks’. 1952S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) iv. 65 We're going to change one of our present magazines—from a confession to a woman's slick. 1958Manch. Guardian 26 Sept. 4/3 Jack Finney's stories, which have been popular in the better American slicks, point the trend all the more for not all being science fiction. 1977Transatlantic Rev. lx. 57 One will keep on about ‘the slicks’ he wants to write for.
7. a. A smooth tyre used on various kinds of racing vehicle.
1959Wall St. Jrnl. (Eastern ed.) 11 Aug. 1/4 Both Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and General Tire & Rubber Co. have jumped into the business..developing and building ‘slicks’—smooth racing tires—for the little vehicles. 1965Daily Mail 2 Oct. 5/7 The slicks (smooth, {pstlg}20-a-piece racing tyres) burst into smoke and then into flame. 1978‘D. Rutherford’ Collision Course 56 Everybody had fitted ‘slicks’, the smooth treadless tyres used on dry roads.
b. (See quots.)
1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam iii. 45 The ‘slicks’—small Huey helicopters—would fly the troops to the battle zone, while the larger Chinooks brought in their heavy equipment. 1974N. Meyer Target Practice (1975) v. 61 We were lifted by choppers called ‘Hueys’ (or ‘slicks’, because they land on runners instead of wheels).
8. U.S. slang. A clever or smart person; a cheat or swindler. Cf. slicker 3; slickster.
1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) i. 28 To try a major novel about the last war in Europe without a sense of the past is to fail in the worst way—as an over⁓ambitious and opportunistic slick. 1970R. D. Abrahams Positively Black iv. 88 These stories commonly turn on some way in which the ‘slick’ manages to trick the white storekeeper ‘Mr. Charlie’ into giving him respect and service. 1971E. Bullins in W. King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 76 Dandy's mother had a civil-service job in the city, and the city slick Dandy was from Philly. 1973[see run v. 52 h].
9. Special Comb.: slick-licker Canad. colloq., an apparatus for removing oil floating as a slick.
1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 7 May 4 (caption) Slick⁓lickers—barges in Nova Scotia's Chedabucto Bay designed to suck in oil off the water's surface from the wrecked tanker Arrow and transfer it to 45-gallon drums. 1972Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Feb. 9/5 The federal transport department has placed a $150,000 order for 22 slicklicker machines... The machine..picks up oil from water surfaces by using an endless belt that has been treated chemically. 1975Lamp (Exxon Corporation) Winter 24/1 Imperial Oil Limited, Exxon Corporation's Canadian affiliate, is employing a ‘slicklicker’ to counter the menace of oil spills on water.
▪ II. slick, n.2 rare.
[ad. G. schlich, related to schleich slike n.]
Finely pounded ore. Also attrib.
The form slich occurs in E. Browne Trav. Germ. etc. (1677) 135, and hence appears in Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. (1753) and some later works of reference.
1683Pettus Fleta Min. ii. iii. 113 Of Gold Slicks. Further, know also that when the Gold Oars and Gold Slicks are cleansed for to quicken [etc.]. 1892Pall Mall G. 8 Aug. 7/2 There were produced in Russia..in 1881, 2,382 poods (of 36 lb.) of slick-gold.
▪ III. slick, a. Now chiefly dial. and U.S.|slɪk|
Forms: α. 4–6 slyke (5 slyk), slike. β. 6 slycke, 6–7 slicke, 6– slick.
[ME. slĭke (developing into slick and sleek a.), prob. representing an OE. *slice, related to the vb. slician (see slick v.) and perhaps cognate with MFlem. sleec, sleic (see sleek n.1)
An apparent OE. slíc given in Dictionaries is the result of a misreading: see Napier Contrib. O.E. Lexicogr. 57–58. Slykker in Palsgr. 324/1 is prob. a misprint for slykke.]
1. Of skin, hair, etc.: Smooth, glossy, sleek. Also, of a surface: slippery (chiefly U.S.).
α13..Cursor M. 28026 (Cott. Galba), When ȝe to sight haue made ȝow slike þan say ȝe men will ȝow biswike. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 542 Hir flesh tendre as is a chike, With bent browis, smothe and slyke. c1386― Wife's Prol. 351 If the Cattes skyn be slyk and gay, She wol nat dwelle in house half a day. c1440Promp. Parv. 459/1 Slyke, or smothe, lenis. a1470H. Parker Dives & P. x. vi. (W. de W. 1496) 379/2 The basynet..is clene fur⁓busshed from ruste, and made slyke and smothe that shot may soone glyde of. 1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 59 Lyke the..adder..His tayle smoog thirling, slyke breast to Titan vpheauing. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 88 A skin as slike and soft as the backe of a swan.
β1549Chaloner Erasm. on Folly B j, This other with the slicke skinne and fayre fedde bodie is called Delicacie. 1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 59 A deft conceite, a slicke forhead, a smugg countenaunce. 1639T. de la Grey Expert Farrier 8 Her hayre more slicke and close to her skin. 1653Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 137 A prone and plain path..not slick and smooth onely, but even steep and slipperie. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 335 He is all slick with Grease without. 1725Fam. Dict. s.v. Peach-Tree, Those Peaches which are not slick, ought to be but indifferently hairy. 1841Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Slick,..smooth, shining. 1880‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xiii. 101 It struck that hard, slick, carpetless floor. 1901A. H. Rice Mrs. Wiggs of Cabbage Patch xi. 143 When the floor was dry and the candle sprinkled over it, Australia and Europena were detailed to slide upon it until it became slick. 1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xxxv. 590 The horse..plodded off, picking its way carefully down the slick road. 1979C. Freeman Portraits (1980) vi. 31 The streets were covered with a white blanket of snow and ice so slick it was almost impossible for him to walk. 1981Railway Mag. Mar. 115/3 No. 765 [sc. a steam locomotive] was true to her breed, losing her footing temporarily on the slick rails as she fought for adhesion.
transf.1679The Confinement 49 More soft than a slick Gale, From Mountains top blown o're the flowry vale.
2. a. Of animals, etc.: Sleek in hair or skin; plump; well-conditioned. Now rare.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. i. 689 In dayes thries x, let make hem [sc. chickens] slyke And faat ynough. 1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 74 How a louer wise Delighteth more to touch Astarte slick Then Hecuba. c1611Chapman Iliad ii. 680 The brauest mares..Both slicke and daintie. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 99 Meal of Garavance, which fattens all their Beasts of War, and makes them slick and fine. 1740Somerville Hobbinol iii. 287 As the slick Lev'ret skims before the Pack. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. 27 All of them selected as the fattest and slickest of the herd.
b. Of range animals: unbranded, wild. U.S.
1955R. Hobson Nothing too Good xvii. 181 The pounding of slick horses hitting across the range. 1973R. Symons Where Wagon Led i. iii. 39 Then brand everything that's ‘slick’—provided you know they're off your own mares.
3. Smooth; plausible; = sleek a. 3. (Of persons or things personified.) See also sense 4 below.
For a doubtful example see Havelok 1157.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. i, Slick flattery and she Are twin-born sisters. a1600Nobody & Someb. in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) 355 Smoth spaniel, soothing grome, Slicke, oyly knave, egregious parasite! 1640Rawlins Rebellion iv. i, Whilst slick Favonius plays the fawning slave. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. iv. Wks. (1884) 226 To the people they're ollers ez slick er molasses. 1876Holland Seven Oaks xx. 282, I hate a slick man. 1936Auden & Isherwood Ascent of F6 (1937) i. i. 17 Evening. A slick and unctuous Time Has sold us yet another shop-soiled day.
4. Adroit, deft, quick, smart; skilful in action or execution. Also (merging with sense 3), glibly clever, having easy assurance. (Of persons.)
1807Lancaster (Pa.) Jrnl. 16 Oct. 3/1 You are getting too slick. What a charming thing it is to see men under good discipline. 1818H. B. Fearon Sketches Amer. 5, I have been slick in going to the stand right away. 1830Galt Lawrie T. iv. ii. (1849) 148, I ain't..slick at the gruelling of sick folks. 1893J. McCarthy Red Diamonds I. 43, I had been a pretty slick voyager in my time. 1921E. O'Neill Diff'rent 1, in Emperor Jones 213 Jim Benson's one o' them slick jokers, same's Jack; can't keep their mouths shet or mind their own business. 1951[see register v. 3 c]. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 155 Give her a pen and she cannot be trusted not to express herself in clichés, like a schoolgirl with a smear of the popular slick journalist. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 98 The rest of our local colour was made up of a community of slick, quick-off-the-mark jumpers.
5. First-class, excellent; neat, in good order; smart, efficient, that operates smoothly; superficially attractive, glibly clever. (Of things, actions, etc.)
1833Jamestown (N.Y.) Jrnl. 25 Sept. 2/1 Of all the inventions I've hearn on of Mr. Van Buren's, this is about the slickest. 1837Baltimore Commercial Transcript 4 Sept. 2/3 Prudence guessed strawberries and cream were slick. Jonathan thought they wa'nt so slick as Pru's lips. 1860J. G. Holland Miss Gilbert's Career viii. 131, I love to see a young man that keeps things slick around him. 1866in J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs. 1891Fur, Fin & Feather Mar. 169 They reckons to make mighty slick work in cleaning everything up on the way back. 1901W. Churchill Crisis I. xii. 104 ‘You'd die laughing, Lige, to hear how he did it.’ ‘Some slickness, I'll gamble,’ grunted Captain Lige. ‘Well, I reckon 'twas slick.’ 1904W. H. Smith Promoters i. 19 I've seen the thing done a hundred times, with a slick word every time. 1905McClure's Mag. June 121/1 ‘They certainly gave us a slick time,’ said the lad. ‘Why our dinner cost nine dollars! 1920E. O'Neill Beyond Horizon i. ii. 35 ‘He'll make this one of the slickest, best-payin' farms in the state.’.. ‘Seems to me it's a pretty slick place right now.’ 1921Galsworthy To Let 286 He could not go on staying here, walled in and sheltered, with everything so slick and comfortable. 1927New Republic 12 Oct. 218/2 His dialogue is of that slick and well oiled kind that you may meet in good vaudeville or in the Saturday Evening Post. 1931E. F. Benson Mapp & Lucia i. 18 Let us practise that scene where I knight you. We must get it very slick. 1933E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! iii. i. 95 How was that for a slick way of getting rid of him? 1940M. V. Hughes London Family between Wars xii. 157 America.., with its slick, fervid haste and its terrifying efficiency. 1958Woman 22 Feb. 23/3 That's what ‘Six-Five Special’ does to you!.. We must admit that it's about the slickest light show on TV today. 1972E. H. Gombrich Story of Art (ed. 12) xxvi. 439 He had more and more become convinced that art was in danger of becoming slick and superficial. 1978Electronics & Power Nov./Dec. 824/1 When that [sc. the robbing of banks] became difficult we went for the cash in transit, until the professionals got their drill so slick that the game was not worth the candle. 1978Lancashire Life Oct. 155/2 The Accord four-door I drove had a slick, finger-light, five-speed manual gearbox with a well chosen set of ratios. 1979Church Times 6 July 16/5, I will scrap Series Three And invent something slicker. How grand to be free—A real alive Vicar!
6. a. Comb., as slick-faced, slick-haired, slick-tongued; slick ear U.S. = slick n.1 5; also fig.
1598Marlowe & Chapman Hero & Leander iii. 343 Slick-tongde fame, patcht vp with voyces rude. c1611Chapman Iliad xi. 343 You slick-hair'd louer: you that hunt and feere at wenches so. c1680Cotton Morning Quatrains xvii, The slick-faced school-boy satchel takes. 1879–in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Slick-faced, -tongued). 1914World's Work XXVII. 447/1 Any ‘slick-ear’ (steer not marked on the ears or branded) found on the range about which inquiry was made was promptly assigned to his ownership, and ‘slick-ears’ eventually became known as ‘mavericks’. 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs vii. 74 I'd clean forgot the slick-ear son of a bitch! 1966H. Marriott Cariboo Cowboy iv. 48 Sometimes the cow would die for some reason or another and the calf would be left without a mother, in which case it grew up an orphan calf or a ‘slick-ear’.
b. slick-paper U.S., a kind of glossy paper used esp. for printing popular magazines (cf. slick n.1 6); usu. attrib.; hence slick magazine, story.
1930D. Wilhelm Writing for Profit iv. 102 There are between 100 and 125 pulp-paper magazines alone beside all the illustrated and ‘slick paper’ magazines! 1936Amer. Mercury XXXVII. 286/2 Occasionally I have put aside two weeks..in which to attempt a slick magazine story. 1949H. E. Neal Writing & Selling Fact & Fiction ii. 17 The average slick story is divisible into six parts. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 23 Oct. 22/5 They will come again next year with..their suitcases stuffed with slick⁓paper brochures full of self-praise. 1980TWA Ambassador Oct. 82/3 Two distinct genres of regional business publications are trying to serve this market: the tabloid and the slick magazine.
▪ IV. slick, adv. Orig. U.S.|slɪk|
[f. slick a.]
1. Smartly, cleverly; easily; quickly.
1825Longfellow in Life (1891) I. v. 59 They manage things there so slick that the college saves annually three thousand dollars! 1836Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 11 A woman's tongue goes so slick of itself..that it's no easy matter to put a spring stop on it. 1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. iv. 55 I'll just take a hurried look round and be back again slick.
2. As an intensive: Right, clean; completely.
1818H. B. Fearon Sk. Amer. 123 Did she die slick right away? 1832Macaulay in Trevelyan 6 July, A Yankee has written to me... I guess I must answer him slick right away. 1840Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story iii, I was right slick up over head and ears in love with her at once. 1900Pollok & Thom Sports Burma vi. 210, I..imagined they had bolted slick away.
▪ V. slick, v.|slɪk|
Forms: α. (1 -slician,) 3–4 sliken, 4 slyken; 4–6 slike, slyke. β. 6 slycke, slicke, 6– slick.
[OE. -slician (in niᵹslicod): cf. sleek v. It is not clear how this is related to Icel. slíkja, Norw. slikja, to be, or to make, sleek.]
1. a. trans. To render smooth or glossy; to polish; to smooth with a slicker.
α [a900O.E. Martyrol. 17 Nov. 206 Heo glytenode..swa scynende sunne oððe niᵹslicod hræᵹel.] a1225Leg. St. Kath. 1660 Istenet [is] euch strete mid deorewurðe stanes,..isliket & ismaket as eni gles smeðest. c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 172 Ke ele lusche, [that she] slike. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 158 W[oman] oft with slikeston slikyth. 1591Horsey Trav. (Hakl.) 234 Silkes, silver and gold, the threed sliked flat, to illustrat the bewty therof.
β1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 90 b, Take a cloute or linnen cloth wete in water, wherwith you shall slycke and make smoth the said tables. 1601Holland Pliny xvii. xxvi, To slick, polish, and smooth them again with the pumy stone. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes 75 Parchment dyed green, and slickt with a slick-stone. 1674Cotton Compl. Gamester (1680) 85 Some have a way to slick with a Slickstone all the Honours very smooth. 1728E. Smith Compl. Housew. (1750) 180 Make it up into a paste; slick white paper, roll your paste out [etc.]. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 379 It is next slicked with a good grit-stone, to take out the wrinkles. 1852C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 347 It [the leather] is then pared, slicked, and beaten out flat. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2208/1 Slickers..are used to slick down the curved surfaces of molds after withdrawal of the pattern.
b. transf. To polish up, make elegant or fine. Also with off, up.
Sometimes with derogatory overtones.
1340Ayenb. 99 He ne heþ none hede of longe ryote of tales y-slyked ne y-rymed. Ibid. 212 Wordes afaited and y-sliked ueleuold. 1582Stanyhurst æneis Ded. (Arb.) 4 With woordes so fitlye coucht, wyth verses so smoothlye slyckte. 1638Quarles Elegies iii, No farr-fetch'd Metaphor shall smooth or slick My ruffled straine. 1831[see better a. 4 b (b)]. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. i, The parson kind o' slicked off sum o' the last varses. 1863Harper's Mag. 55/1 He got into Peter's way by attempting..to ‘slick up’ the barn. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 187 Stop slicking it up into cheap melodrama. 1973E.-J. Bahr Nice Neighbourhood iii. 25 I'm going to get her all slicked up in her new outfit from Aunt Joan and show her off.
c. With away or out: To remove by smoothing or polishing.
1639T. de la Grey Expert Farrier 116 This clyster..slicketh away all slimy substance. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 386/2 The superfluous moisture and the superficial bloom are now slicked out [with the slicker].
d. intr. To smarten or tidy up. U.S.
1841Knickerbocker XVII. 41 In a little while he recovered his self-possession, or, to make use of one of his own expressions ‘he slicked up’. 1887M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 395 I'm going to slick up here a little for you while I stay... He watched her..as she flew about putting things to rights. 1948Family Circle June 96/2 It's always serious when they slick up for a girl!
†2.
a. To make specious or plausible. Also absol., to use specious language. Obs.
c1250Owl & Night. 841 Alle þine wordes beoþ isliked,.. Þat alle..weneþ þat þu segge soþ. 1390Gower Conf. II. 351 For so wel can ther noman slyke. Ibid. 365 He can so wel hise wordes slyke To putte awey suspecioun.
†b. To flatter, treat pleasantly. Obs.
c1250Long Life 43 in O.E. Misc. 158 Ȝef þe world wið weole þe slikeð Þat is for to do þe wo.
3. To make (the skin, hair, etc.) sleek or glossy, esp. by some special treatment.
a1300Cursor M. 28026 Yee leuedis..Quen yee yow-self sua slight and slike, Yee sai þat men you wille besuike. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 98 To sitten and soupen..Tyl sleuth and slepe slyken his sides. 1555W. Watreman Fardle of Facions ii. viii. 181 No face painted, no skinned slicked, no countrefeicte countenaunce. c1570[Jefferies] Bugbears i. iii, He is coombed and slicked and wasshed. 1593Munday Def. Contraries 21 Oftentimes they..rub, slick, chafe and washe themselues, only to seeme faire. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Kt. Burning Pestle ii. iii, A gentle Squire..Who will our Palfries slick with wisps of straw. 1620–6Quarles Feast for Wormes 1089 He..Stayes not to bathe his weather-beaten ioynts, Nor smooth'd his countenance, nor slick't his skinne. 1838Holloway Prov. Dict., To slick, to comb, or make sleek, the hair. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) I. xiii. 98 Slicks down his long hair, and rubs his oiled limbs to a polish.
absol.1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. Epil., They neuer stande content,..But paint and slicke til fayrest face be foule.
4. colloq. (See quot.)
1860Slang Dict. 218 Slick,..as a verb,..has the force of ‘to despatch rapidly’, turn off, get done with a thing. |