Glide

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡlɑɪd/
• Rhymes: -aɪd

Origin

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 gli (""), Danish glide (""), Swedish glida ("").

Full definition of glide

Verb

1. (intransitive) To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.
• WordsworthThe river glideth at his own sweet will.
• 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter VIThe 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, 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.
3. (transitive) To cause to glide.
4. (phonetics) To pass with a glide, as the voice.

Synonyms

• (to move effortlessly) coast, slide

Noun

1. The act of gliding.
2. (linguistics) 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.

Related terms

• glider
• gliding
• offglide, off-glide
• onglide, on-glide

Anagrams

• gelid