THE FIRST WORD

slipstream

PRONUNCIATION:

(SLIP-streem) 

MEANING:

noun:	1. A stream of air (or another fluid) forced backwards by a propeller.
	2. The area of reduced pressure behind a fast-moving object.
verb tr., intr.:	3. To follow behind a vehicle to take advantage of decreased wind resistance.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle Dutch slippen (to slip), ultimately from the Indo-European root lei-/slei- (slimy), which also gave us slime, lime, slick, slippery, schlep, and oblivion + Old English stream, ultimately from the Indo-European root sreu- (to flow), which also gave us maelstrom, diarrhea, rhythm, and Sarayu (a river in India). Earliest documented use: 1913.

USAGE:

"The owl was so small, in fact, that it kept on tumbling over in the air, buffeted this way and that in the train's slipstream."
J.K. Rowling; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Bloomsbury; 1999.