a. Also 6 Sc. lubricus. [f. L. lūbric-us LUBRIC + -OUS.]
1. Slippery, smooth; slimy; oily.
1659. H. More, Immort. Soul, II. vi. 177. It is not such a lubricous Substance as the Animal Spirits, nor so disunited.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. i. (1723), 145. The Parts of it being very voluble and lubricous,… it easily insinuates it self into … the Tubes.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., III. xxxiii. 344. Consider the fluid in a vessel … to consist of a vast number of small, equal, lubricous, spherical globules.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xvii. 119. Without falling … from their lubricous or seemingly perilous station.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 543/2. The skin of the Cephalopods is thin and lubricous.
1861. H. Macmillan, Footn. Nature, 163. [Ulva bulbosa] with its excessively soft and lubricous masses, appearing as if in a state of fermentation.
2. fig. a. ‘Slippery,’ shifty; unstable; elusive.
1646. Speech without Doors defended without Reason, 7. He … leaves the safety of Embassadors in a most lubricous posture.
1655–87. H. More, App. Antid. (1712), 203. This proof or reason is the most lubricous and unmanageable of any that I have made use of.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., v. 125. All observations of this kind must be very lubricous and uncertain.
1822. T. Taylor, Apuleius, 230. She … transferred, with a lubricous mobility [L. mobilitate lubrica], her nefarious love to a far more pernicious hatred.
† b. Voluble, glib. Obs. rare.
1715. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., I. Pref. 49. Such a lubricous Faculty of spouting out so many Prodigal Expressions.
† c. Insinuating. Obs. rare.
1792. W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 51 (1797), III. 20. A certain magical grace of manner, a lubricous insinuating softness slides into every action and gesture.
3. Lascivious, wanton. rare.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 533. Rycht lubricus with sic lust and delyte, As brutell best takis his appetyte.
1898. Q. Rev., Jan., 193. The lubricous fancies of a half-demented day-dreamer [Rousseau].
