slim

Borrowing from Low German or Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-West Germanic *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). The sense development would have been "slanting, cunning" (Dutch) > "insignificant, slight" and then "thin, graceful" in English, a shift that Liberman calls an "incredible amelioration" of word meaning.[1]

The pejorative sense found in Low German and Dutch is also found preserved in the archaic English noun Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), also comparable to the South African use of the adjective as "crafty, sly."[2]

Compare Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), Middle High German slimp (“slanting, awry”), German schlimm (“bad”), Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value).

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪm

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimmest)

1. Slender, thin.
   1. (of a person or a person's build) Slender in an attractive way.

      Movie stars are usually slim, attractive, and young.

   2. (by extension, of clothing) Designed to make the wearer appear slim.
   3. (of an object) Long and narrow.
   4. (of a workforce) Of a reduced size, with the intent of being more efficient.
2. (of something abstract like a chance or margin) Very small, tiny.

   I'm afraid your chances are quite slim.

   • 2011 January 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Man City 4 - 3 Wolves”, in BBC‎:

     Wolves' debatable third in the last 10 minutes, with the ball only crossing the line by the slimmest of margins if at all, ensured a cracking finale, although City would have been left aggrieved had they let the win slip.

3. (rustic, Northern England, Scotland) Bad, of questionable quality; not strongly built, flimsy.

   A slimly-shod lad;

   a slimly-made cart.

4. (South Africa, obsolete in UK) Sly, crafty.

• (slender in an attractive way.): lithe, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender
• (clothing):
• (long and narrow): fine, stalky, sticklike, thin, virgate
• (reduced workforce):
• (tiny; of something abstract): infinitesimal, marginal; see also Thesaurus:tiny
• (of questionable quality): flimsy, lousy, shoddy; see also Thesaurus:low-quality
• (crafty): cunning, frood; see also Thesaurus:wily

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

slim (plural slims)

1. A type of cigarette substantially longer and thinner than normal cigarettes.

   I only smoke slims.

2. (Ireland, regional) A potato farl.
3. (East Africa, uncountable) AIDS, or the chronic wasting associated with its later stages.
   • 2003, Charled F. Gilks, “HIV in the Developing World”, in David A. Warrell et al., editors, Oxford Textbook of Medicine‎, 4th edition, volume 1, →ISBN, page 446:

     As in the West, only about 50 per cent of patients with slim fully investigated will have a putative pathogen identified.

4. (slang, uncountable) Cocaine.

• (AIDS): Slim

slim (third-person singular simple present slims, present participle slimming, simple past and past participle slimmed)

1. (intransitive) To lose weight in order to achieve slimness.
2. (transitive) To make slimmer; to reduce in size.

• slim down

• MILs, MLIS, MSIL, SMIL, mils, misl

From Old Norse slím (“slime”).

• IPA^(key): /sliːm/, [sliːˀm]

slim c or n (singular definite slimen or slimet, uncountable)

1. slime
2. mucus

From Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), slem, slimp, slemp, from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”), compare German schlimm (“bad”), Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value). The semantic development in Dutch was “physically crooked” → “morally crooked” → “sly, artful” → “clever, intelligent”.

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: slim
• Rhymes: -ɪm

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimst)

1. intelligent, bright
2. clever, smart
3. (now dialectal, Eastern Dutch) wrong, incorrect, bad

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

• intelligent
• scherpzinnig
• schrander
• sluw
• gewiekst
• listig

• Berbice Creole Dutch: slem
• Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
• Skepi Creole Dutch: slam
• Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) (dated)

From Old Norse slím.

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

• slimhinne

• “slim” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slim_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Old Norse slím.

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

• slimhinne

• “slim” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *slīmą, from Proto-Indo-European *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”)

• IPA^(key): /sliːm/

slīm ?

1. slime

• English: slime

slim n (plural slimuri)

1. Alternative form of slin

• IPA^(key): /slɪm/

slim

1. bad
2. dire
3. difficult

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

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