slime
pronunciation
How to pronounce slime in British English:
UK [slaɪm]
How to pronounce slime in American English:
US [slaɪm]
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- Noun:
- any thick messy substance
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- Verb:
- cover or stain with slime
Word Origin
- slime
- slime: [OE] Along with its relatives German schleim, Dutch slijm, and Danish slim, slime comes from a prehistoric Germanic slīm-. This probably has connections with English lime ‘calcium’ and Latin līmus ‘mud’.
- slime (n.)
- Old English slim "slime," from Proto-Germanic *slimaz (cognates: Old Norse slim, Old Frisian slym, Dutch slijm "slime, phlegm," German Schleim "slime"), probably related to Old English lim "birdlime; sticky substance," from PIE root *(s)lei- "slimy, sticky, slippery" (cognates: Sanskrit linati "sticks, stays, adheres to; slips into, disappears;" Russian slimak "snail;" Old Church Slavonic slina "spittle;" Old Irish sligim "to smear," leinam "I follow," literally "I stick to;" Welsh llyfn "smooth;" Greek leimax "snail," limne "marsh, pool, lake," alinein "to anoint, besmear;" Latin limus "slime, mud, mire," linere "to daub, besmear, rub out, erase"). As an insult to a person from mid-15c. Slime-mold is from 1880.
- slime (v.)
- "to cover with slime," 1620s, from slime (n.). Related: Slimed; sliming.
Example
- 1. My name comes from a latin word that means slime or poison .
- 2. To further confirm their results , the researchers grew bacterial colonies near wells filled with a solution of ammonia and found the same slime gradient .
- 3. Because biofilms increase bacteria 's resistance to antibiotics and are known to coat many implanted medical devices , learning more about how and why bacteria produce slime could have important medical applications .
- 4. Instead the researchers observed a gradient : the cultures toward the middle of the plate , nearest to the left-side bacteria feasting on the nutrient-rich medium , oozed the most slime and took on a pinkish tint .
- 5. Pliny also described how he was able to make practical use of bioluminescence : a walking stick dipped in the glowing slime of a jellyfish , he observed , " will light the way like a torch " .