Meanings
plural slipstrings
- obsoleteA wastefully extravagant person; a prodigal; a spendthrift.
Well, slip-string, I shall meet with you.
1619, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, A King and No King, act 2, scene 2; republished in The Works of Beaumont & Fletcher, volume 2, London: Edward Moxon, 1843, page 2702 more examples
Every promise that thou therein dost utter, / Is as sure as it were sealed with butter, / Or a mouse tyed with a threed. Every good thing / Thou lettest even slip, like a waghalter slipstring.
1546, John Heywood, chapter VII, in Julian Sharman, editor, The Proverbs of John Heywood, London: George Bell and Sons, published 1874, pages 147–148Goinfre: m. A wag, ſlipſtring, knaviſh lad; a merrie conceited whoreſonne, a notable good fellow, an excellent companion.
1611, Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, page GOI-GONSynonyms: spendthrift
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA wastefully extravagant person; a prodigal; a spendthrift.
Origin
Cite this entry
slipstring. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipstring
“slipstring.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipstring. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slipstring,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipstring.
Source: slipstring on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.