slicker

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪkɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪkə/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From the adjective slick.

Adjective

slicker

1. comparative form of slick: more slick

Etymology 2

From slick (“to smooth or make slick”) +‎ -er.

Noun

slicker (plural slickers)

1. One who or that which slicks.
2. (originally Canada, US) A waterproof coat or jacket.
3. A person who is perceived as clever, urbane and possibly disreputable. (abbreviation of city slicker.)
4. (slang) A swindler or conman.
5. A symmetrical knife with a handle at each end, used for burnishing leather.
6. (metalworking) A curved tool for smoothing the surfaces of a mould after the withdrawal of the pattern.
7. A two-handled tool for finishing concrete or mortar; a darby.
8. A brush for grooming a cat or other pet and removing loose fur.

   Synonym: slicker brush

   • 2009, Vicky Halls, The Complete Cat, page 225:

     There are numerous grooming products on the market, particularly for longhaired cats – for example, rakes, slickers and detangle sprays, many of which claim to make grooming as simple and safe as possible.

Synonyms

• (waterproof coat or jacket): poncho

Translations

waterproof coat or jacket

• Afrikaans: reënjas
• German: Regenjacke (de) f, Regenmantel (de) m

swindler or conman

• Afrikaans: blinkjan
• German: Hochstapler (de) m, Schwindler (de) m

Verb

slicker (third-person singular simple present slickers, present participle slickering, simple past and past participle slickered)

1. To slither, as on a slick surface.
   • 1883, Transactions of the Illinois State Horticultural Society:

     My good lady wife invited many and often her friends to a dish of cauliflower cooked as it ought to be and finely seasoned, and you ought to see how they slickered their tongues; it looked like appetite all over their faces.

   • 2013, Quinn Higgins, The Waiting Room, →ISBN, page 41:

     I carefully watched his quick emotions as they slickered in his eyes before he hid them.

   • 2015, Joshua Gaylord, When We Were Animals, →ISBN:

     That's me, a holy greased pig, slickering away out of the fumbling hands of evil.

2. To con or hoodwink.
   • 1976, Forrest Carter, Rennard Strickland, The Education of Little Tree, →ISBN, page It was at the crossroads store where I got slickered out of my fifty cents.:
   • 1979, John Greenway, Susan Perl, Tales from the United States, →ISBN, page 9:

     I knew he had been slickered again.

3. To use a slicker on.
   • 1911, The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade marks, Volume 38:

     ...carbon bisulphide, chloride of sulphur and sulphur precipitating substances, the surplus rubber adhering to the hide being then slickered off and finished with a cloth dipped in a rubber solvent.

   • 1962, Central Leather Research Institute (India), Leather Science - Volume 9, page 209:

     The bends are rinsed well and slickered on both the sides to remove excess of water.

4. To smooth or slick.
   • 2008, Preston Wilson, Tales of Finnigan LeBlanc, Prince of Mushrat, →ISBN, page 42:

     Anyway, to make a long story short, here was this young kin of mine dressed in a white shirt and shoes and pale blue shorts standin' there with his hair slickered down, starin' at me.

5. To spread mashed manure on fields as a form of fertilization.

See also

• city slicker

Anagrams

• Rickels, Sickler, lickers, relicks, rickles, sickler