Meanings
plural slipways
- A slip road.
Immediately beyond the 'No entrance' sign onto the motorway slipway, turn right down the bank.
2002, Michael Smout, Merseyside Meanders, →ISBN, page 981 more example
Cross a motorway slipway – there are no traffic lights. Then cross a major junction. Keep the motorway on your left.
2019, Declan Lyons, Cycling the Canal de la Garonne: From Bordeaux to Toulouse, →ISBN, page 48
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sloping surface, leading down to the shore or to a river, on which ships are built, repaired or stored and from which they are launched.
More synonyms by meaning
nounstructure consisting of a sloping way down to the water from the place where ships are built or repaired
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*slippjan
- Old Saxon*slippian
- Middle Low Germanslippender.?
- Middle Englishslippen
- Englishslip
- Englishway
- Englishslipway
Translations
Bulgarian хелинг, стапел
- хелинг (heling)sloping surface
- стапел (stapel)sloping surface
Dutch stapel
- stapelsloping surface
Finnish veneenlaskupaikka, veneluiska
- veneenlaskupaikkasloping surface
- veneluiskasloping surface
- veneramppisloping surface
French cale, cale sèche
- calesloping surface
- cale sèchesloping surface
German Helling, Stapel
- Hellingsloping surface
- Stapelsloping surface
- Helgesloping surface
- Helgensloping surface
Hungarian sólya, sólyapálya
- sólyasloping surface
- sólyapályasloping surface
Indonesian galangan
- galangansloping surface
Italian diga
- digasloping surface
Malay galangan
- galangansloping surface
Polish pochylnia
- pochylniasloping surface
Portuguese dique, rampa de lançamento
- diquesloping surface
- rampa de lançamentosloping surface
Romanian cală
- calăsloping surface
Russian ста́пель, э́ллинг
- ста́пель (stápelʹ)sloping surface
- э́ллинг (élling)sloping surface
Spanish dique, grada
- diquesloping surface
- gradasloping surface
Swedish sjösättningsramp
- sjösättningsrampsloping surface
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
slipway. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipway
“slipway.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipway. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slipway,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slipway.
Source: slipway on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.