glide

Etymology

From Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan, from Proto-Germanic *glīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleydʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian glide, glydzje, Low German glieden, Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian Nynorsk gli, Danish glide, Swedish glida.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaɪd/
• Rhymes: -aɪd

Verb

glide (third-person singular simple present glides, present participle gliding, simple past glided or glid or (archaic) glode, past participle glided or glid or glidden or (archaic) glode)

1. (intransitive) To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.
   • Wordsworth

     The river glideth at his own sweet will.

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter VI

     The water over which the boats glided was black and smooth, rising into huge foamless billows, the more terrible because they were silent.

   • 2011 January 22, “Man Utd 5 - 0 Birmingham”, in BBC‎:

     But it was 37-year-old Giggs who looked like a care-free teenager as he glided across the pitch he knows so well to breathtaking effect.

2. (intransitive) To fly unpowered, as of an aircraft. Also relates to gliding birds and flying fish.
3. (transitive) To cause to glide.
4. (phonetics) To pass with a glide, as the voice.

Noun

glide (plural glides)

1. The act of gliding.
2. (phonology) Semivowel
3. (fencing) An attack or preparatory movement made by sliding down the opponent’s blade, keeping it in constant contact.
4. A bird, the glede or kite.
5. A kind of cap affixed to the base of the legs of furniture to prevent it from damaging the floor.

Anagrams

• gelid, lidge, liged

Alternative forms

• gli
• glida

Etymology

From Middle Low German gliden

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ɡliːə/

Verb

glide (imperative glid, present tense glid, simple past gleid, past participle glidd or glitt or glide)

1. to slip (to lose one's traction on a slippery surface)

   Han gleid på isen.

   He slipped on the ice.

2. to glide (to move effortlessly)

   Skia glid godt.

   The skis glide well.

References

• “glide” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Noun

glide

1. dative singular of glid