slipstick

slipstick

slang A slide rule, a mechanical computational device consisting of two scaled rules that slide along grooves in one, formerly used to complete complex mathematical computations. Primarily heard in US. Our teacher insisted on us using slipsticks to calculate everything, even though he knows full well we'll never use one in the real world.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

slipstick

n. a slide rule. (Very common a few decades ago, a slide rule is a computing device that allowed the user to compute by positioning moveable scales printed on various sliding parts of the rule.) Who carries a slipstick these days?
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • insert
  • insert between
  • insert between (two things)
  • let slide by
  • ride up
  • scooch over to (something or some place)
  • one on one
  • one-on-one
  • one-to-one
  • project on (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
When high school started, I called it my "slipstick", with easy familiarity, and could make it sit up and beg.
Circuit designers: An Endangered species? (Special Report)
Employing a second cylinder for movement is said to allow precise velocity control, eliminating the "slipstick" effect at low speeds.
New fully closed-loop injection machine series
Three possible explanations for the behavior described above are that the CCNT undergoes (1) postbuckling, a deformation of the wall structure of the nanotube [39], (2) higher order buckling that deforms the helical structure of the nanocoil, or (3) movement across the substrate by slipstick motion [40].
Empirical correlation of the morphology of coiled carbon nanotubes with their response to axial compression
In the literature, melt fracture is usually classified into three separate types: surface melt fracture (SMF) also called sharkskin, slipstick fracture (SSF), and gross melt fracture (GMF) (1), (2).
Effect of short-chain branching on melt fracture behavior of metallocene and conventional poly(ethylene/[alpha]-olefin) Copolymers
Triple/S Dynamics created a Slipstick Conveyor with a patented system for breaking up compacted dry materials--the Slipstick Break-Free Conveyor.
A new conveyor
By 1970 every math and engineering student had a slide rule, and by 1980 "slipsticks" were replaced by calculators and personal computers.
Calculators before the CPU