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Slippery; elusory. [Obs.] That sliding science hath me made so bare. Chaucer. Sliding friction (Mech.), the resistance one body meets with in sliding along the surface of another, as distinguished from rolling friction. -- Sliding gunter (Naut.), a topmast arranged with metallic fittings so as to be hoisted and lowere…

Slipping back; falling back into sin or error; sinning. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. Jer. iii. 14.

lculating table or frame; an instrument for performing arithmetical calculations by balls sliding on wires, or counters in grooves, the lowest line representing units, the second line, tens, etc. It is still employed in China.

A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.

A movable roof sliding on four posts, to cover hay, straw, etc. [Local, U.S.]

f an engine vibrates. -- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points; -- used for drawing or describing large circles. -- Beam engine, a steam engine having a working beam to transmit power, in distinction from one which has its piston rod attached…

A long bar or bolt of iron with sliding shackles, and a lock at the end, to confine the feet of prisoners or offenders, esp. on board of ships. Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Shak.

A truck for railroad rolling stock, consisting of two ordinary axle boxes sliding in guides attached to a triangular frame; -- called also pony truck.

A sliding catch, or fastening, as for a door or gate; the portion of a lock which is shot or withdrawn by the action of the key.

A turning or sliding piece which, by the shape of its periphery or face, or a groove in its surface, imparts variable or intermittent motion to, or receives such motion from, a rod, lever, or block brought into sliding or rolling contact with it.

A movable or sliding keel formed of a broad board or slab of wood or metal which may be raised into a water-tight case amidships, when in shallow water, or may be lowered to increase the area of lateral resistance and prevent leeway when the vessel is beating to windward. It is used in vessels of all sizes along the co…

A change-speed gear in which the gears are changed by sliding endwise.

lutch (Mach.), a clutch in which connection is made by means of bayonets attached to arms sliding on a feathered shaft. The bayonets slide through holes in a crosshead fastened on the shaft.

Sliding down hill; sliding on a sled upon snow or ice. [Local, U. S.]

brass wind instrument, like the trumpet, furnished with valves moved by small pistons or sliding rods; a cornopean; a cornet.

ce towards a mark. Curling . . . is an amusement of the winter, and played on the ice, by sliding from one mark to another great stones of 40 to 70 pounds weight, of a hemispherical form, with an iron or wooden handle at top. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of…

which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. "Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh. The general defection of the whole realm. Sir J. Davies.

A sliding box or receptacle in a case, which is opened by pulling or drawing out, and closed by pushing in. (b) pl.

bolt. (a) A screw bolt whose head is countersunk, so as to be flush with a surface. (b) A sliding bolt let into the face or edge of a door, so as to be flush therewith. -- Flush deck. (Naut.) See under Deck, n., 1. -- Flush tank, a water tank which can be emptied rapidly for flushing drainpipes, etc.…

tance which a body meets with from the surface on which it moves. It may be resistance to sliding motion, or to rolling motion.