slipway—a sloping path down to the water for ships or boats: Stena Paris is laid on wooden rails which are lubricated to help the ship slide down into the water from the slipway . slip up on something • slip up something slip up on something—make a mistake in smth.: I’d easily give this book five stars, except that the publishers have slipped up on one point: all the photos are reproduced in black and white. slip up something —move quietly and gently over the surface of smth.: Easily, on the flowing tide … the boat has slipped up the channel between the two lines of sand-hill. slippery customer • smooth customer slippery customer —a clever and deceitful person; smb. one should not trust: Watch out for that guy with the big padded coat. He may snatch something. He’s a real slippery customer . smooth customer—an excessively suave or ingratiating per- son: Dobeliou is a smooth customer who does not have to act to seem sincere and trustworthy. He is the perfect choice for a front man to sell the product. See also: rough customer / tough customer. sloppy Joe • sloppy Joe’s sloppy Joe —(sl.) 1. a long, loose-fitting pullover sweater: You can’t look like Lana Turner in a Sloppy Joe . Well—maybe Lana could. 2. hamburger meat served with a spicy barbecue sauce: I hope to take up cooking as well, because I am getting tired of eating sloppy Joes . 3. any cheap restaurant or lunch counter: The baked beans are prepared in a tasty sauce and served hot. The “Sloppy Joe” is not your typical sloppy Joe . sloppy Joe’s— = sloppy Joe 3: The barber shop of Felo Cen- tellas was built years later, not far from Sloppy Joe’s of Perecito. slot machine • slotting machine slot machine—a machine whose operation is started by dropping a coin into a slot: The Court of Appeals declared that the so-called “one-arm bandit” type of slot machine is illegal. slotting machine —a machine tool used for shaping the sides of an aperture: It has become usual to embrace in the general term machine tools, such machines as the lathe, slotting- machine , and others. slow down • slow up slow down—1. move or work at a slower rate: If the driver wishes to slow down he does not necessarily change his gear, but operates the accelerator. 2. live in a quieter less active manner: New York is a place where you can’t slow down …. Any person tends to vegetate unless he is moving on a fast track. slow up—1. = slow down 1: The bus slowed up to allow the passengers to get on board. 2. = slow down 2: The doctor advised Jim to slow up for a time, to give his heart a chance. small men • small people small men—1. men who are not tall: Monty had all that cock-sparrowish pluck which small men are wont to possess. 2. craftsmen or tradesmen doing business on a small scale: The small men must have been very badly hit in the last eight- een months and … some of the stronger are quietly buying them up. 3. morally mean, ungenerous people: Only small men fear the power of words, says Beaumarchais, a phrase to which the King takes exception. small people —1. a race of people who are not tall: The name of this culture has been derived from a Kikuyu term which is applied to a semi-mythical race of small people . 2. = small men 1: Small people are even taught to practice their [self- defense] drills standing directly in front of opponents who are often much larger. 3. said of children: There was a garden that certain small people might play in when they came. 4. the fairies: The Small People are believed by some to be the spirits of people who inhabited Cornwall many thousands of years ago. smile at someone • smile on someone smile at someone—(also: smile to someone) look at a person with a smile on one’s face (expressing pleasure or amusement): The waiter brought her a drink. “Just what the doctor or- dered,” she said, smiling at him. smile on someone—1. (of fate, luck, etc.) be favorable to a person: Good fortune indeed had smiled on the child as she could easily have been placed on one of the other three chain gangs. 2. = smile at someone: The doctor smiled on the child, and, chucking him under the chin, told him he must hate nobody… smile at something • smile something smile at something—1. experience amusement with regard to smth. and show it by a smile: Nicholas could not refrain from smiling at the abruptness of the question. 2. experience the feeling of amusement or derision with regard to smth. without showing it: I secretly smiled at this last prophecy as a “bad shot.” smile something —express one’s feelings by a smile: He smiled his delight and then he and his father walked off, hand in hand. smoked bacon • smoky bacon smoked bacon—bacon treated by smoking: This Smoke House specializes in smoked meat and cheese items including smoked sausage, turkey, smoked bacon smoky bacon —(in recipes, etc.) used with reference to a par- ticular tasty flavor of the bacon: In this dinner recipe, chicken fillets are cooked with smoky bacon and lima beans. snake juice • snake oil snake juice—(Austral. sl.) any strong alcoholic drink: We were warmly greeted by the owner who immediately poured us a shot of snake juice . snake oil —1. a worthless product fraudulently peddled as a cure, etc. (from the 19th-century American practice of selling cure-all elixirs): There are people out there selling good weight loss products, but there are also scoundrels selling nothing but snake oil . 2. speech or writing intended to deceive: Why are these three Senators hustling this snake oil rather than the only proven and workable reform? snow boots • snow shoes snow boots—overboots of rubber and cloth; winter boots made for deeper snow: Soon after our walk began, I discovered my snow boots had a small leak. snow shoes—flat frames attached to a boot for walking on snow: There was no village at which the required articles could be procured: namely, two pairs of snow shoes . snow on someone • snow someone snow on someone—fall in the manner of snow; shower down on smb.: They were subjected to conditions where the asbestos was snowing on them continually. snow someone—(U.S. sl.) deceive a person or win over with plausible words: I won’t get mad. Just don’t snow me with any sob-sister business. snowed in • snowed under snowed in—(also: snowed up) 1. (of cars, roads, etc.) be (com- pletely) covered with snow: Cars were snowed in and several parking lots were still filled shin-deep with snow. 2. (of people) slip up on something – 300 –