glide

From Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *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, Finnish liitää.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪd

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.
   • 1807, William Wordsworth, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 (Sonnet 14)”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume I, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, , →OCLC:

     The river glideth at his own sweet will:

   • 1834, L E L, chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 137:

     It is odd how easily the common-places of morality or of sentiment glide off in conversation. Well, they are "exceedingly helpful," and so Lord Avonleigh found them.

   • 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.
   • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:

     The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind.

3. (transitive) To cause to glide.
4. (phonetics) To pass with a glide, as the voice.

• (to move effortlessly): coast, slide

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

glide (plural glides)

1. The act of gliding.
2. (phonology) A transitional sound, especially a semivowel.

   Synonyms: semivowel, semiconsonant

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 while being moved.

   Hyponym: bell glide

6. The joining of two sounds without a break.
7. A smooth and sliding step in dancing the waltz.

• gelid, lidge, liged

glide

1. Alternative form of glede (“kite (bird of prey)”)

• glida (a infinitive)
• gli (short form)

From Middle Low German gliden.

• IPA^(key): /²ɡliːə/

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

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.

• “glide” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡliː.de/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡli.de/

glīde

1. inflection of glīdan:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. singular present subjunctive

glide

1. inflection of glīdan:
   1. second-person singular preterite indicative
   2. singular preterite subjunctive

glide

1. dative singular of glid

From Old Frisian glīda, from Proto-West Germanic *glīdan, from Proto-Germanic *glīdaną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlidə/, /ˈɡliːdə/

glide

1. to glide, to slide

• “glide”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011