slime
n. uncountablen. a thick, wet, and slippery substance that is often unpleasant to touch. You might see it on a fish, a snail, or at the bottom of a dirty pond.
n. a moist, soft, and slippery substance, typically regarded as repulsive. Often refers to the protective mucus secreted by certain animals or the viscous coating found on decaying organic matter.
The snail left a trail of silver slime on the leaf.
After the flood, the basement walls were covered in a thin layer of green slime and mud.
The biologist carefully collected a sample of the bioluminescent slime from the cave floor, noting its unusual viscosity and pungent, earthy odor.
From Middle English slime, slyme, slim, slym, from Old English slīm, from Proto-West Germanic slīm, from Proto-Germanic slīmą, from Proto-Indo-European *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian Sliem, Dutch slijm, German Schleim (“mucus, slime”), Danish slim, Faroese slím (“slime”), Latin limus (“mud”), Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”).