E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Slip.
Many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip. Everything is uncertain till you, possess it. (See ANCÆOS.)
1
“Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra.”
Horace.
To give one the slip. To steal off unperceived; to elude pursuit. A seaphrase. In fastening a cable to a buoy, the home end is slipped through the hawse-pipe. To give the slip is to cut away the cable, so as to avoid the noise of weighing anchor.
