Slather - slaver

The two words slather and slaver (in its meaning of 'dribble': see slaver for more) are often confused on account of their similarities in pronunciation. Both have the stress on the first vowel, which is like that in ‘have’, and a schwa in the second syllable: the difference between them is simply in the central consonant, which for slather is the dental [ð], making IPA: /ˈslæ ðə^r/ and for slaver the bilabial fricative [v], making IPA: /ˈslæ və^r/. These two consonants are not infrequently confused by less careful speakers.

• Slather can be a noun or a verb. The verb is rather older.
  • ’To slather' originally meant ‘to slip’, ‘to slide’. Its most usual meaning nowadays is ‘to spread in generous quantities’ (as in ‘slathering sun-tan lotion over one’s body’ and ‘slathering meat with sauce’), or, less deliberately, ‘to spill’.
  • The noun 'a slather' means, in the northern half of Britain, ‘a slippy layer or mass of thin mud’, sometimes as a sloppy layer over a floor or pavement; but also as the sort of deep puddle or mess left by cattle at a gate in a field. In American English, slathers (usually in the plural form, as here) is a slang expression meaning ‘a large amount' (equivalent to the British ‘loads of’, ‘lashings of’).
• Slaver can also be used as a noun or a verb. Here the noun is considerably older.
  • The noun slaver , which is usually non-count, means ‘liquid from the mouth’, ‘saliva’, ‘drool’. It may come from humans or from other animals, such as mad dogs, toads and horses. Figuratively, it can mean ‘nonsense’, ‘drivel’; and in some cases ‘flattery’.
  • So the verb 'to slaver ' can mean ‘to let [liquid] fall from the mouth’, ‘to drool’; ‘to wet with spittle’; ‘to talk nonsense’; ‘to flatter’, or “to fondle, to flatter, in a disgusting or sycophantic manner” (OED).

Don’t confuse either slather or slaver with salver, a tray, usually of silver and often formed with feet, used in formal settings such as for servants to offer drinks to guests; or display visiting cards, or letters, in the hall of a country house, etc; originally to serve food and drink to a prince after it had been tasted to prove its safety. (The root is the Spanish salvar’’, ‘to save’, ‘to make safe’.)

In older English, a salver could also be ‘a healer’ (from the same root as the old-fashioned noun ‘a salve', ‘an ointment for healing wounds or sores’).

See also a comparable pair at Slither – sliver.