To make smooth, in a good or bad sense; usually to set in order.
1839. On the day they published that they would be there to slick him, he had eighteen friends who came to his assistance.—‘History of Virgil A. Stewart,’ p. 20 (N.Y.).
1840. Mr. Flyter was “slicked up” for the occasion, in the snuff-colored silk she was married in.—Mrs. Kirkland, ‘A New Home,’ p. 243.
1841. Mr. Cram took out of his pocket a wooden comb,… and began to ‘slick down’ his hair.—Knick. Mag., xvii. 38 (Jan.).
1847. Old Haines went to work loading up his old big bore, with as much care as a gal fixes herself when she slicks up.—‘The Great Kalamazoo Hunt,’ p. 44 (Phila.).
1867. Then he said, ‘Is this my farm?’ ‘Don’t you know it?’ says I. ‘It looks more slicked up than ever it used to be,’ says he.—E. E. Hale, ‘The Man who stole a Meeting-House,’ Atlantic Monthly, xix. 109/2 (Jan.).
