"to slide, slip," from Old English asliderian, from slider "slippery," from the source of slide (v.); also compare slither. Related: Sliddery.
Entries linking to slidder
slide v.
Middle English sliden, "glide, move smoothly and easily over a surface," also "to fall, lose one's balance through slipping," from Old English slidan (intransitive, past tense slad, past participle sliden) "to glide, slip, fall, fall down;" figuratively "fail, lapse morally, err; be transitory or unstable," from Proto-Germanic *slidanan "to slip, slide" (source also of Old High German slito, German Schlitten "sleigh, sled"), from PIE root *sleidh- forming words for "to slide, slip; slippery" (source also of Lithuanian slysti "to glide, slide," Old Church Slavonic sledu "track," Greek olisthos "slipperiness," olisthanein "to slip," Middle Irish sloet "slide").
The meaning "lose one's balance through slipping, lose one's footing" is attested from early 13c. (for distinction from slip, see below). The transitive sense of "cause to glide or move along a surface" is from 1530s. The meaning "pass gradually from one state or condition to another" is from late 14c. Related: Slid; slidden; sliding.
The phrase let (something) slide "let it take its own course, take no consideration of" is in Chaucer (late 14c.) and Shakespeare. Sliding scale in reference to payments, etc., varying under certain conditions is from 1842.
We slide or slip on a smooth surface : we slide by intention ; we slip in spite of ourselves. In the Bible slide is used for slip. Slide generally refers to a longer movement : as, to slide down hill ; to slip on the ice. We glide by a smooth and easy motion, as in a boat over or through the water. [Century Dictionary]
slither v.
early 15c., variant of Middle English slidder "to slip, slide," from Old English slidrian "to slip, slide on a loose slope," a frequentative form of slidan "to slide" (see slide (v.)). For spelling change, compare gather. The specific meaning "walk in a sliding manner" is attested from 1848 in reference to humans. In reference to reptile motion, from 1839. Related: Slithered; slithering.