Meaning & use
give the slip
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
To escape from someone who is following or watching you, especially by tricking them.
Grammar: The person you escape comes before the phrase: give someone the slip. You can also say give the slip to someone, but that is rarer.
Patterns
- give someone the slip
- give the slip to someone
The suspect gave the police the slip by slipping out a back door.
She gave her bodyguard the slip and walked home alone.
Reporters followed him for hours, but he finally gave them the slip.
Common combinations
- give the police the slip
- The thief gave the police the slip in the crowded market.
- give the press the slip
- The actress gave the press the slip by leaving through the kitchen.
- manage to give someone the slip
- He managed to give his pursuers the slip near the station.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- slip verb
- To move quietly or quickly without being noticed.
Commonly confused: give the slip or slip someone's mind?
give the slip vs slip someone's mind
This means to be forgotten, not to escape. Don't confuse 'give someone the slip' with 'slip someone's mind'.
Practice
The spy ___ the guards the slip and disappeared into the crowd.
Choose one answer.
The fixed idiom is give someone the slip, so the past tense 'gave' is correct. 'Took', 'made' and 'did' do not form this expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “give the slip”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.