A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1409-1436, 1567-1590, 1642
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Slipper, -ir, -ar, Sloppare, adj. [ME and e.m.E. sliper (a1300), slipper (1432-50), slopper (c1540), OE slipor, = MLG slipper.] a. fig. Unreliable. b. lit. Having a smooth or slippery surface. —a. 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 208.
Say weill is slipper [Bann. MS slippir, D. slippar], and makis mony wylis, Do weill is semelie, without ony gylis c1590 Fowler I 65/185.
First errour, nixt deluding dreames … Than slipper hope and slyding trust —b. 1642 Edinburgh Testaments LX 204b.
Ane pair of auld slipper breikis pryce thairof iiij s. —(b) c1409-1436 Kingis Quair § 163.
That ilk quhele that sloppare was to hold
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"Slipper adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 20 Jun 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/slipper_adj>
