schleichen

From Middle High German slīchen, from Old High German slīhhan. Compare English slink.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃlaɪ̯çən/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: schlei‧chen

schleichen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present schleicht, past tense schlich, past participle geschlichen, auxiliary sein)

1. (intransitive) to move in a quiet and inconspicuous manner, hence often slowly and/or ducked: to crawl, to sneak, to steal, to prowl, to creep, to slither (of a snake)
   • 1995, “Heirate mich”, performed by Rammstein:

     Man sieht ihn um die Kirche schleichen
     Seit einem Jahr ist er allein
     Die Trauer nahm ihm alle Sinne
     Schläft jede Nacht bei ihrem Stein

     You see him sneaking around the church
     He's been alone for a year
     The sadness took away all his senses
     He sleeps by her headstone every night

2. (reflexive, with some adverb of location) to go somewhere in the above manner
3. (informal, intransitive) to move slowly (especially in a car)

   Was schleicht der da so? ― Why’s that guy driving so slowly?

4. (informal, reflexive) to slink away; to leave meekly or sheepishly
5. (Austria, Bavaria, Southern Germany, reflexive, colloquial or vulgar, dismissal) to piss off

   Schleich dich! ― Piss off!

• Schleichen, Schleicher
• schleichend, geschlichen
• beschleichen, erschleichen

• Schleichhandel
• Schleichweg
• Schleichwerbung
• Blindschleiche

• “schleichen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schleichen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schleichen” in Duden online
• “schleichen” in OpenThesaurus.de