slipstreamer

English

Etymology

From slipstream +‎ -er.

Noun

slipstreamer (plural slipstreamers)

1. Someone who follows a slipstream in a race.
   • 1999, Graeme Fife, Tour De France: The History the Legend the Riders, Edinburgh, London: Mainstream Publishing, →ISBN, page 42:

     He headed the leading group over the col, class riders every one, no wheel-suckers keeping the shade of the men doing the work. 'Never gets a tan', they say of the slipstreamers.

   • 2013, Joel Levy, All the Right Angles: From Gear Ratios to Calculating Odds: Mathematics in the World of Sports, Buffalo, N.Y.: Firefly Books, →ISBN, page 194:

     Slipstreaming athletes save energy—at the speeds involved in cycling, energy savings can be 33% or more. Obviously the slipstreamer cannot go faster than the leading rider, but if the leader is a powered vehicle capable of great speed then the slipstreaming rider can go correspondingly fast.

   • 2017, Kieren Fallon, Form: The Autobiography, London […]: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 116:

     Even though horses are racing, they can spot things and that's why they put blinkers on so they can focus better. The best thing is to get your horse in the slipstream of the leader. It's a bit like cycling with its pacemakers and its slipstreamers.

2. (figuratively) Someone who goes with the flow; someone who follows with what others are doing.

   Antonym: contrarian

   • 1981, John Kessel, Not Responsible! Park and Lock It!, Sauk City, W.I.: Arkham House Publishers, Inc., published 1992, →ISBN, page 149:

     Men are slipstreamers, David. Did you ever see a car follow close behind a big truck to take advantage of the windbreak to make the driving easier? That's the way people are. They'll follow so close they can't see six inches beyond their noses, as long as it makes things easier. And the schools and the teachers are the biggest windbreaks of all.

   • 2011, Claire Dederer, Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 150:

     He had a special bond with my father, a bond that I was hard-pressed to understand, that involved doing stuff. The two of them skied and hiked and fly-fished. I did those things, too, but as a kind of slipstreamer, along for the ride.

   • 2013, Nicola White, In the Rosary Garden, Glasgow: Cargo Publishing, →ISBN, page 59:

     Murphy was not Swan's first choice of partner for a case like this, or any case. But he was the only other Murder Squad detective available, since all the rest were up in Dundalk for a double shooting. TP was not only a leadswinger and a slipstreamer, he looked like a right throwback too, with those sideburns and aviator specs, not to mention the wide tie just hiding the gaps between his strained shirt buttons.

   • 2014, Melanie Carvell, Running With the Antelope: Life, Fitness, and Grit on the Northern Plains, Washburn, N.D.: Dakota Institute Press, →ISBN, page 136:

     Sometimes, on bad days, the group never gets organized. It becomes a herky-jerky mess. Someone gets going too fast for the person and the group loses contact with the leader, losing any benefit from the leader's work. Or mauybe someone is tired and can't take a turn at the lead, leaving a dead spot in the squad. Such "slipstreamers" can be found in all walks of life; people who coast along on the labor of others, but too seldom take their own pull at the front.

   • 2016, Roger Wagner, Andrew Briggs, The Penultimate Curiosity: How Science Swims in the Slipstream of Ultimate Questions, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 155:

     [Robert ] Grosseteste in this sense was a slipstreamer. In his book about him, James McEvoy writes, 'Grosseteste's interest in natural questions was both genuine and deep. Part of his motivation for inquiry undoubtedly lay in his religious faith.

3. (motor racing) A race in which the shape of the track causes extensive slipstreams to form behind each car.
   • 1973, Fred Mustard Stewart, The Mannings, New York, N.Y.: Arbor House, →ISBN, page 552:

     Boca was what was known as a slipstreamer track. The long straightaways gave rise to the phenomenon known as slipstreaming, which was the partial vacuum created by the lead car as it reached the high speeds possible on the track. This vacuum created behind the lead car gave the second driver an advantage, for he could profit by the lack of air resistance to take the lead himself.

   • 2001, Bruce Jones, The Official ITV F1 Sport Encyclopedia of Formula One: The Essential Guide to Grand Prix Racing, London: Carlton Press, →ISBN, page 344, column 1:

     Dating back to 1925, Reims was a five-mile blast along public roads. It was best known for its long main straight — the Thillois straight — which made every race into a dramatic slipstreamer.

   • 2009, Gerald Donaldson, James Hunt: The Biography, London: Virgin Books, →ISBN, page 119:

     The few Formula 3 races I'd won had been slipstreamers, where you only had to be in the right place on the last lap to win.

   • 2011 September 8, Ian Parkes, quoting Martin Whitmarsh, “Martin Whitmarsh predicts classic battle at Monza”, in The Independent‎^[1], London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-07:

     Throw in the two DRS (drag reduction system) zones to assist with overtaking this year, as well as KERS (kinetic energy recovery system), and it is no wonder Whitmarsh is full of anticipation for the weekend ahead. ¶ "Perhaps it's a bit premature to be discussing the return of the epic 'Monza slipstreamer'," said Whitmarsh.

4. (literature) Someone who writes slipstream fiction ("a genre of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries").
   • 1989 September, Bruce Sterling, “Zenith: The Best in New British Science Fiction”, in The New York Review of Science Fiction, number 13, Pleasantville, N.Y.: Dragon Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10:

     "Britain is soaring into the future with a wealth of talented science fiction writers”—Zenith's blurb overstates the case; but it could be truthfully said that "Britain is motoring sedately into a retro-eclectic fantasyland with a talented clique of slipstreamers and true-quill weirdos."

   • 1993, John Clute, “Science Fiction Novels of the Year”, in New Worlds 3, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 203:

     For the rest of us — slipstreamers, alpha males, difficult women, neophytes, neighbours, expats — it's down the long chute together, into a heap at the heart of a late year.

   • 2004 February, James Patrick Kelly, “On The Net”, in Asimov's Science Fiction, volume 28, number 2, Norwalk, C.T.: Dell Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 14:

     In his provocative 1998 essay, "The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction", sometime slipstreamer Jonathan Lethem proposed an alternate history of our genre.

References

• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “slipstreamer, n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.