slime

Definition

Soft, moist earth or clay, having an adhesive quality; viscous mud; any substance of a dirty nature, that is moist, soft, and adhesive; bitumen; mud containing metallic ore, obtained in the preparatory dressing.

Etymology

From Middle English slime, slyme, slim, slym, from Old English slīm, from Proto-West Germanic *slīm, from Proto-Germanic *slīmą, from Proto-Indo-European *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Sliem, Dutch slijm, German Schleim (“mucus, slime”), Danish slim, Faroese slím (“slime”), Latin limus (“mud”), Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”).

Example Sentences

• "As it [the Nile] ebbs, the seedsman / Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain."
• "You ſhould rub your Teeth and whole Mouth and Gums, the Pallate and Tongue, with a clean courſe cloth, rubbing off the ſlime which groweth upon them in the night."
• ""What about that, you slime?""