slender

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See also: Slender

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (thin, slender), from Old Dutch slinder (thin, lank), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (sliding, slippery), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (to slip). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (that which dangles), German schlendern (to saunter, stroll), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (to wriggle, creep like a serpent), Low German slindern (to slide on ice). More at slide, slither.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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slender (comparative slenderer or more slender, superlative slenderest or most slender)

  1. Thin; slim.
    A rod is a long slender pole used for angling.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.
  2. (figurative) meagre; deficient
    Being a person of slender means, he was unable to afford any luxuries.
    • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 413:
      The grounds for the conjecture are somewhat slender.
    • 2022 January 26, Barry Doe, “Fabrik offers an end to hard times”, in RAIL, number 949, page 42:
      The slender service between Ellesmere Port and Helsby has been added, too.
  3. (Gaelic languages) Palatalized.

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Derived terms

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Translations

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