A Slide Is a Playground Toy and a Piece of Glass
To slide is to move smoothly over a surface. The noun covers everything from playgrounds to microscopes to presentations.
To slide is to move smoothly along a surface. The noun has attached itself to a remarkable range of objects, all of which either slide or were once slid: a playground slide, a microscope slide, a trombone slide, a landslide, and the slides of a presentation — those last named because photographic transparencies were physically slid into a projector one at a time. *Let it slide* means to allow something to pass without comment.
- To move smoothly. *Slide across the ice.*
- A playground structure. *A children's slide.*
- A glass plate. *A microscope slide.*
- A presentation screen. *The next slide.*
- Old English — *slidan*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | slide | Slide it. |
| Past | slid | Slid. |
| Noun | slide | A slide. |
| Compound | landslide | A landslide. |
| Adjective | sliding | A sliding door. |
- The drawer slides open easily.Movement.
- Place the sample on a slide.Laboratory.
- Move to the next slide.Presentation.
Things called slides
- Playground slide — a sloping chute for children
- Microscope slide — a glass plate holding a specimen
- Trombone slide — the moving section that changes pitch
- Landslide — a mass of earth moving downhill, and a huge election win
- Presentation slide — from transparencies slid into a projector
Old English *slidan*, to slip or glide, of Germanic origin.
Why are presentation screens called slides?
Because photographic transparencies were physically slid into a projector one at a time, and the software kept the name.
Why is a big election win a landslide?
From the image of a mass of earth sliding downhill, overwhelming everything in its path.