slip v Cp OED ~ v1 26 'to let go' for sense 1.
1 At the seal hunt, to cast off rope from the shoulder and let go a quantity of seal pelts being hauled to vessel or shore.
1865 CAMPBELL 64 Our host went out himself, and slew a lot of seals, with which he was proceeding on his homeward march, when a cry was raised of, 'Slip your seals and run.' The ice was opening. 1905 MURPHY 13 There was slipping of 'tows,' there was running for life. [c1945] TOBIN 40 "Off Southern Head, King's Cove": ... and shots rang out, / In code arranged before, no doubt, / To slip their seals and turn about / To Southern Head. [1923] 1946 PRATT 197 "The Ice-Floes": We gathered in knots, each man within call / Of his mate, and slipping our ropes, we sped. 1944 LAWTON & DEVINE 93 However, the firing on this particular day was to this effect: Slip your seals and run for the shore.
2 To snare an animal or bird.
T 398-67 He's five times as good shot as what he is to slip. 1975 LEYTON 21 They used to slip the partridges then. You used to go in the country, a big copse on the ridges, and you'd put down your stakes and you'd put your slip down between them.
