Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Slender

Slen′der (slĕn′dẽr), a. [Compar. Slenderer; superl. Slenderest.] [OE. slendre, sclendre, fr. OD. slinder thin, slender, perhaps through a French form; cf. OD. slinderen, slidderen, to creep; perh. akin to E. slide.] 1. Small or narrow in proportion to the length or the height; not thick; slim; as, a slender stem or stalk of a plant. "A slender, choleric man." Chaucer.

She, as a veil down to the slender waist, Her unadorned golden tresses wore. Milton.

2. Weak; feeble; not strong; slight; as, slender hope; a slender constitution.

Mighty hearts are held in slender chains. Pope.

They have inferred much from slender premises. J. H. Newman.

The slender utterance of the consonants. J. Byrne.

3. Moderate; trivial; inconsiderable; slight; as, a man of slender intelligence.

A slender degree of patience will enable him to enjoy both the humor and the pathos. Sir W. Scott.

4. Small; inadequate; meager; pitiful; as, slender means of support; a slender pittance.

Frequent begging makes slender alms. Fuller.

5. Spare; abstemious; frugal; as, a slender diet.

The good Ostorius often deigned To grace my slender table with his presence. Philips.

6. (Phon.) Uttered with a thin tone; — the opposite of broad; as, the slender vowels long e and i.

— Slen′der·ly, adv. — Slen′der·ness, n.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.