slick1

[slik] /slɪk/
adjective, slicker, slickest.
1.
smooth and glossy; sleek.
2.
smooth in manners, speech, etc.; suave.
3.
sly; shrewdly adroit:
He's a slick customer, all right.
4.
ingenious; cleverly devised:
a slick plan to get out of work.
5.
slippery, especially from being covered with or as if with ice, water, or oil.
6.
deftly executed and having surface appeal or sophistication, but shallow or glib in content; polished but superficial; glib:
a writer who has mastered every formula of slick fiction.
7.
Slang. wonderful; remarkable; first-rate.
noun
8.
a smooth or slippery place or spot or the substance causing it:
oil slick.
9.
Informal.
  1. a magazine printed on paper having a more or less glossy finish.
  2. such a magazine regarded as possessing qualities, as expensiveness, chic, and sophistication, that hold appeal for a particular readership, as one whose members enjoy or are seeking affluence.
  3. such a magazine regarded as having a sophisticated, deftly executed, but shallow or glib literary content.
    Compare pulp (def 6).
10.
any of various paddlelike tools for smoothing a surface.
11.
Automotive. a wide tire without a tread, used in racing.
12.
Military Slang. a helicopter.
adverb
13.
smoothly; cleverly.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English slike (adj.); cognate with dialectal Dutch sleek even, smooth; akin to slick2
Related forms
slickly, adverb
slickness, noun
Synonyms
3. wily, tricky, foxy, sharp.

slick2

[slik] /slɪk/
verb (used with object)
1.
to make sleek or smooth.
2.
to use a slicker on (skins or hides).
3.
Informal. to make smart or fine; spruce up (usually followed by up).
noun
4.
Metallurgy. a small trowel used for smoothing the surface of the mold.
5.
any woodworking chisel having a blade more than 2 inches (5 cm) wide.
Origin
before 900; Middle English slicken (v.), Old English slician; akin to Old Norse slīkja to give a gloss to
Related forms
unslicked, adjective
Examples from the web for slick
  • Everything looks great when it's slick, polished and sitting on the lot.
  • Hip-hop album covers today have become pretty slick.
  • The video features slick animation, an ominous soundtrack, and interviews with indebted students and critical professors.
  • The distressed look has usurped the slick new look-out of choice, not necessity.
  • Because the oil film gradually thins from its center to its periphery, different bands of the oil slick produce different colors.
  • The bees eat it, crawl over it, and get thoroughly coated in this slick stuff so that the mites have no toehold.
  • Rain makes the roads slick and encourages irrational behaviour from pedestrians.
  • They were so slick that our horses slipped right off them.
  • Oil creates a slick that rides on the water's surface.
  • Sure, it's slick and based on a controversial best seller.
British Dictionary definitions for slick

slick

/slɪk/
adjective
1.
flattering and glib: a slick salesman
2.
adroitly devised or executed: a slick show
3.
(informal, mainly US & Canadian) shrewd; sly
4.
(informal) superficially attractive: a slick publication
5.
(mainly US & Canadian) smooth and glossy; slippery
noun
6.
a slippery area, esp a patch of oil floating on water
7.
a chisel or other tool used for smoothing or polishing a surface
8.
the tyre of a racing car that has worn treads
verb (transitive)
9.
(mainly US & Canadian) to make smooth or sleek
10.
(US & Canadian, informal) (usually foll by up) to smarten or tidy (oneself)
11.
(often foll by up) to make smooth or glossy
Derived Forms
slickly, adverb
slickness, noun
Word Origin
C14: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Icelandic, Norwegian slikja to be or make smooth
Word Origin and History for slick
v.

Old English -slician (in nigslicod "newly made sleek"), from Proto-Germanic *slikojan, from base *slikaz (cf. Old Norse slikr "smooth," Old High German slihhan "to glide," German schleichen "to creep, crawl, sneak," Dutch slijk "mud, mire"), from PIE *sleig- "to smooth, glide, be muddy," from root *(s)lei- "slimy" (see slime (n.)). Related: Slicked; slicking.

n.

1620s, a kind of cosmetic, from slick (v.). Meaning "smooth place on the surface of water caused by oil, etc." is attested from 1849. Meaning "a swindler, clever person" is attested from 1959.

adj.

early 14c., "smooth, glossy, sleek" (of skin or hair); sense of "clever in deception" is first recorded 1590s; that of "first-class, excellent" is from 1833. Related: Slickly; slickness.

Slang definitions & phrases for slick

slick

adjective
  1. Smooth and clever; smart: She's a very slick talker (1599+)
  2. Cunning; crafty: more than a match for any slick city lawyer (1807+)
  3. Excellent; nifty: The soup was ''simply slick'' (1843+)
  4. Glib and superficial; without real substance: They turn out people with slick plastic personalities (1920+)
noun
  1. A magazine printed on glossy paper and usually having some artistic or intellectual pretensions, as distinguished from pulp magazines: magazines, from top slicks to minor pulps (1934+)
  2. n automobile tire with a very smooth tread: My Sting Ray is light, the slicks are startin' to spin (1950s+ Hot rodders)
  3. A police bureaucrat regarded as self-serving by the rank and file: But no way am I hanging around to talk to the slicks on this one (1980s+ New York City police)

[earlier 1800s uses were in comparative phrases like slick as bear's grease and slick as molasses]


Encyclopedia Article for slick

glassy patch or streak on a relatively undisturbed ocean or lake surface, formed where surface tension is reduced by a monomolecular layer of organic matter produced by plankton or by man; closer to shore most of the material is man-made hydrocarbon pollutant. Slicks are patchy when the wind velocity is less than about 13 kilometres per hour (7 knots). Winds with higher velocities break slicks into narrow, closely spaced windrows aligned parallel to the wind direction. Elongate parallel slicks may also form over and migrate with the trailing slopes of internal waves

Learn more about slick with a free trial on Britannica.com