Word.ws English Dictionary

slickem

slickem noun: hair oil.

Noun (1)

slickem (countable and uncountable, plural slickems)

  1. Hair oil.
    • Turkington's bright mop of red hair had plainly never known slickem.1927, Copy ...1927: Stories, Plays, Poems, and Essays, page 82
    • Well, old-timer, you begin to look to me like a guy who's left waiting at the church. Frock coat, white carnation, slickem on your curly locks, everything on hand but a bride.1939, Careless Hussy, page 249
  2. A very fine waste material produced by hydraulic mining which tends to contaminate waterways.
    • Now one of the most engrossing questions in the politics of the State arises from the filling of the rivers and the destruction of the agricultural lands by the debris from these hydraulic mines. A dam on the Feather River, near Marysville, was authorized by the Legislature, and after the...1879, Frederic Eichelberger Shearer, The Pacific Tourist
    • The miners generally expect to build their own dams. These dams will restrain the coarser material, but not the finest slickem.1883, Engineering and Mining Journal - Volume 35, page 234
  3. A superlubricant packet or spray that can be used to reduce traction on surfaces or as a lubricant.
    • Whitey Hermanson's Leatherneck son thought that his dad's car could get along on iron rations, or whatever Marines carry to their landing with situations in hand, forgot to put some slickem in the case for the turn-arounds, and that knocked the babbit outa the gadgets.1942, Typographical Journal - Volume 101, page 769
    • The ice I haven't really met yet, but it looks like that could be overcome with some slickem on the airplane and a careful check with . . .1956, Air Facts: The Magazine of Safe Flying - Volume 19, page 47
  4. A long-chain polymer that is injected into oil pipelines to reduce turbulent flow.
    • “We were wondering about this slickem stuff,” the tall one said. “Oh, sure, slickem,” Dale said. “It's kind of neat stuff, actually. It's a long-chain polymer, kind of a gooey plastic. It's injected into the line at Pump One and”—she looked at Toni—”Pump Two? Anyway, it kind of gums up the oil, not...1994, Dana Stabenow, A Cold-Blooded Business, →ISBN, page 50
    • Later, through addition of a chemical substance called “slickem”, the flow rate was increased, to the point where by 1980 Alaskan oil made a genuine contribution to the world's crude supplies.2000, Bruce Raphael, King Energy: The Rise and Fall of an Industrial Empire Gone Awry, →ISBN
  5. A piece of wood wrapped in abrasive cloth, used for sharpening blades.
    • A special introductory section describes the simple tools needed for carving and how to make them; how to prepare a "slickem-sharp" and illustrates the basic techniques of whittling.1959, School Activities - Volumes 31-32, page 96
    • Seldom used by the home craftsman or carver are two sharpening devices often used by whittlers and barbers: the "slickem-sharp" and the strop.1974, Sunset Books, Woodcarving, →ISBN, page 25

Noun (2)

slickem (plural slickems)

  1. An SLCM (sea-launched cruise missile).
    • Meanwhile the original 'slickem' concept turns virtually any US warship into a strategic launch platform, but particularly nuclear-powered attack submarines whose primary role was previously to act as anti-submarine warfare platforms themselves.1984, Christopher Campbell, Nuclear Weapons Fact Book, page 92
    • The U.S., for example, will not allow Soviet inspectors aboard its submarines to count sea-launched cruise missiles — "slickems" to the trade — and proposes taking these numbers on faith. Surely you jest, the Soviets respond. They have a point, a U.S. official concedes: "I wonder how happy we would...1988, U.S. News & World Report - Volume 105, page 38

Examples of slickem in a sentence

  • ...his black hair plastered down on both sides with slickem, and his natty siders halfway down his cheeks in the most approved shiek style.2005, Michael Oriard, King Football: Sport and Spectacle in the Golden Age of Radio and Newsreels, Movies & Magazines, the Weekly & the...
  • While Such surfaces—known among mine Workers - as “slickem-slides”—are by no means uncommon, the Specimens here illustrated are perhaps unique in perfection and interest.1910, Denver Municipal Facts - Volume 2, page 14:
  • If the government buys a stun gun, or a 'slickem' to cause vehicles to skid, who is to blame if fatalities result?1996, Jane's Defence Contracts: A Jane's Defence Weekly Publication:
  • Other examples include a fluid called "slickem" that causes a loss of traction.2000 January, Paul S Patterson Jr, “Should DOD Integrate Nonlethal and Lethal Weapons Program”, in Defense Technical Information Center:

Forms of slickem

pluralslickems

Origin of slickem

From slick + 'em.

From the pronunciation of the acronym SLCM.

Questions about slickem

What does slickem mean?
Slickem means hair oil.
How do you use slickem in a sentence?
...his black hair plastered down on both sides with slickem, and his natty siders halfway down his cheeks in the most approved shiek style.
What part of speech is slickem?
Slickem is a noun.
What is the plural of slickem?
The plural of slickem is slickems.

Words near slickem in the dictionary

  1. slicked
  2. slicked back
  3. slicked down
  4. slicked up
  5. slicked-back
  6. slickem
  7. slickems
  8. slicken
  9. slickened
  10. slickening
  11. slickens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: slickem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “slickem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/slickem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.