glide

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Glided; p. pr. & vb. n. Gliding. ] [ AS. glīdan; akin to D. glijden, OHG. glītan, G. gleiten, Sw. glida, Dan. glide, and prob. to E. glad. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To move gently and smoothly; to pass along without noise, violence, or apparent effort; to pass rapidly and easily, or with a smooth, silent motion, as a river in its channel, a bird in the air, a skater over ice. [ 1913 Webster ]

The river glideth at his own sweet will. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Phon.) To pass with a glide, as the voice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Aëronautics) To move through the air by virtue of gravity or momentum; to volplane. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. The act or manner of moving smoothly, swiftly, and without labor or obstruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

They prey at last ensnared, he dreadful darts,
With rapid glide, along the leaning line. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Seeing Orlando, it unlink'd itself,
And with indented glides did slip away. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Phon.) A transitional sound in speech which is produced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other of a double or diphthongal consonant (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 19, 161, 162). Also (by Bell and others), the vanish (or brief final element) or the brief initial element, in a class of diphthongal vowels, or the brief final or initial part of some consonants (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 18, 97, 191). [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The on-glide of a vowel or consonant is the glidemade in passing to it, the off-glide, one made in passing from it. Glides of the other sort are distinguished as initial or final, or fore-glides and after-glides. For voice-glide, see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 17, 95. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Aëronautics) Movement of a glider, aëroplane, etc., through the air under gravity or its own movement. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

obs. p. p. of Glide. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Aeronautics) the proper path for an airplane approaching a landing strip; also called glide slope. [ PJC ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, glides. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a heavier-than-air flying machine similar to an airplane, but without an engine. It is typically towed to a high altitide by a powered aircraft and then glides to earth with no other source of power. [ PJC ]

3. a type of seat used on porches or in gardens, which is mounted on a frame so that it may glide forward and backward. [ PJC ]