glider

glide +‎ -er

A motor glider in flight.

• (UK) enPR: glī'də(r), IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaɪdə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlaɪdɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪdə(r)

glider (plural gliders)

Glider in Conway's Life

1. One who glides.
2. Any heavier-than-air aircraft optimised for unpowered flight; a sailplane.
3. A pilot of glider aircraft.
4. Any animal with the ability to glide, such as the gliding possum.
5. Synonym of glide (“cap affixed to base of legs of furniture”)
   • 2007, Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

     The left drawer runner is probably replaced. Nail holes on the upper surface of the stretchers suggest the piece once had a bottom shelf. Modern metal gliders have been added under the feet.

6. (mathematics) In the Game of Life cellular automaton, a particular configuration of five cells that recurs periodically at fixed offsets and appears to "walk" across the grid.
7. A kind of garden swing.
   • Tom Reamy, Blind Voices

     Francine sat in the glider on the porch, swinging lightly, her mind a thousand miles away. The chain squeaked a little, almost like a cricket.

   • 2011, Mary Biever, He Uses It For Good! (page 5)

     Then I went into the backyard, which had a flower-covered arbor, a small garden wall, and room behind it for a garden. Swings and gliders adorned the yard.

8. A vehicle, of a usually motorised type, without a powertrain.

• hang glider, motor glider, paraglider, sailplane

• glider gun
• sugar glider

• Gilder, gilder, girdle, girled, gridle, regild, ridgel

glider

1. present tense of glida.