<B>slaggy, </B>adjective, <B>-gier,</B> <B>-giest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> of, like, or having to do with slag. </DL>
<A NAME="slaglessness">
<B>slaglessness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the fact of having no slag or cinder. </DL>
<A NAME="slagwool">
<B>slag wool,</B> <B>=mineral wool.</B></DL>
<A NAME="slain">
<B>slain, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> the past participle of <B>slay.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. The sheep were slain by wolves.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slainte">
<B>slainte, </B>interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Gaelic word used in drinking a health. <BR> <I>Ex. They all took the whiskey straight ... "Slainte," said Willie-John, and they murmured it after him (Joanna Ostrow).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slake">
<B>slake, </B>verb, <B>slaked,</B> <B>slaking.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to satisfy (as thirst, revenge, or wrath). <BR> <I>Ex. We slaked our thirst at the spring.</I> (SYN) assuage. <DD><B> 2. </B>to put out (a fire). (SYN) extinguish. <DD><B> 3. </B>to change (lime) to slaked lime by leaving it in the moist air or putting water on it. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) to make less painful. <BR> <I>Ex. Wake thou ... and slake ... A wound more fierce than his (Shelley).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>(of lime) to become slaked lime. <DD><B> 2. </B>to become less active, vigorous, or intense. </DL>
<A NAME="slakedlime">
<B>slaked lime,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a white powder obtained by exposing lime to moistened air or by putting water on lime; calcium hydroxide. Plaster contains slaked lime and sand. </DL>
<A NAME="slakeless">
<B>slakeless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that cannot be satisfied; insatiable. <BR> <I>Ex. a slakeless thirst.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slalom">
<B>slalom, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a skiing race downhill. The skiers race zigzag through pairs of poles placed in various combinations on the course and complete the run in turns, the winner being the one who does it fastest without error. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar race zigzagging between obstacles, as in water-skiing, canoeing, and automobile racing. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to move as in a slalom; zigzag skillfully between objects. <BR> <I>Ex. I slalomed around cloverleafs trying to get turned the right way (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slalomcanoe">
<B>slalom canoe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a canoe, usually with a deck, used in a canoe slalom. </DL>
<A NAME="slalomer">
<B>slalomer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who takes part in a slalom. </DL>
<A NAME="slalomist">
<B>slalomist, </B>noun. <B>=slalomer.</B></DL>
<A NAME="slam">
<B>slam</B> (1), verb, <B>slammed,</B> <B>slamming,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to shut with force and noise; close with a bang. <BR> <I>Ex. She slammed the window down.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to throw, push, hit, or move hard with force. <BR> <I>Ex. He slammed himself down on his bed. Why, he'd have slammed you through the window (Mark Twain).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(U.S. Informal, Figurative.) to criticize harshly. <BR> <I>Ex. His habit of slamming friends made him unpopular.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to shut with force and noise; close with a bang. <BR> <I>Ex. The door slammed.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to move hard with force. <BR> <I>Ex. My car slammed into the truck.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to slam-dance. <BR> <I>Ex. When it's their turn to slam, they jut their elbows high (Jeff Coplon).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a violent and noisy closing or striking; bang. <BR> <I>Ex. He threw his books down with a slam.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Informal, Figurative.) harsh criticism. <DD><B> 3. </B>slam dancing. </DL>
<A NAME="slam">
<B>slam</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the winning of 12 tricks (little, or small, slam) or all 13 tricks (grand slam) in the game of bridge. <DD><B> 2. </B>a hand of whist in which one side wins all the tricks. <DD><B> 3. </B>a game of cards like ruff, played in the 1600's. </DL>
<A NAME="slambang">
<B>slambang, </B>adverb, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>adv. </I> with a slam and a bang; with noisy or headlong violence. <BR> <I>Ex. The car went slambang into a fence.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> violent and noisy; unrestrained. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the slambang, profane hit play, "The Front Page" (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to go with a slam and a bang; go noisily. <BR> <I>Ex. Zooey's razor, new blade and all slambanged down into the metal wastebasket (J. D. Salinger).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slamdance">
<B>slam-dance, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-danced,</B> <B>-dancing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to dance to rock music by whirling about and deliberately colliding with other dancers. <BR> <I>Ex. Anthrax draws a crowd that likes to slam-dance ... dancing in which kids stomp around together, flailing and bouncing off each other (Rolling Stone).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slammer">
<B>slammer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) Usually, <B>the slammer.</B> prison; jail. <BR> <I>Ex. The judge is mulling how long he's going to give you in the slammer (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slander">
<B>slander, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a false report meant to do harm to the good name and reputation of another. <BR> <I>Ex. Do not listen to slander.</I> (SYN) defamation, calumny. <DD><B> b. </B>(Law.) a spoken statement tending to damage a person's reputation. <DD><B> 2. </B>the spreading of false reports about persons. <BR> <I>Ex. The mayor sued the television station for slander when it accused him of dishonest use of city funds. The worthiest people are the most injured by slander (Jonathan Swift).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to talk falsely about. (SYN) defame, calumniate. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to speak or spread slander. noun <B>slanderer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="slanderoftitle">
<B>slander of title,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) defamatory and false statements injuring one's property, real or personal, or one's title thereto. </DL>
<A NAME="slanderous">
<B>slanderous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of, containing, or involving slander or a slander. <BR> <I>Ex. slanderous words.</I> (SYN) calumnious, defamatory. <DD><B> 2. </B>speaking or spreading slanders. <BR> <I>Ex. Done to death by slanderous tongues (Shakespeare).</I> adv. <B>slanderously.</B> noun <B>slanderousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="slang">
<B>slang, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>words, phrases, or meanings that are new, flashy, and popular, usually for only a short time. Slang is often very vivid and expressive and is used in familiar talk between friends but is not accepted as good English when speaking or writing formal English. <I>Slob</I> and <I>on the skids</I> are slang. <BR> <I>Ex. The central characteristic of slang comes from the motive for its use: a desire for novelty, for vivid emphasis, for being in the know, up with the times or a little ahead ... Many slang words have short lives--skiddoo, twenty-three, vamoose, beat it, scram, hit the trail, take a powder, drag out, shag out--have succeeded each other almost within a generation ... The chief objections to slang, aside from its possible conspicuousness, are to its overuse, and to its use in place of more exact expressions (Porter G. Perrin). All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry (G. K. Chesterton).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the special talk or language of a particular class of people. <BR> <I>Ex. "Crib" often means "cheat" in students' slang. A "contract" is underworld slang for an "order tokill someone."</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the special language of tramps or thieves, or of some sport or, sometimes, an occupation; cant. <BR> <I>Ex. "Slang" in the sense of the cant language of thieves appears in print certainly as early as the middle of the last century [1700's] (The Nation).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to attack with abusive language; rail at; scold. <DD><B> 2. </B>to address in slang. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to use abusive language. <BR> <I>Ex. They slanged away at each other (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to use slang. </DL>
<A NAME="slangily">
<B>slangily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a slangy manner. </DL>
<A NAME="slanginess">
<B>slanginess, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> slangy quality. <BR> <I>Ex. [The play] drew many a brickbat from critics ... for its slanginess (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slangingmatch">
<B>slanging match,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a quarrel in which abusive language is used; violent dispute. <BR> <I>Ex. Their main fear is that the conference will be reduced to an unholy slanging match between pro and anti-Europeans (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slanguage">
<B>slanguage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> slangy language. <BR> <I>Ex. It is also best to avoid attempts to talk teen slanguage (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slangy">
<B>slangy, </B>adjective, <B>slangier,</B> <B>slangiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>containing slang; full of slang. <BR> <I>Ex. Trilby's French was ... droll, slangy, piquant (George du Maurier).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>using much slang. <BR> <I>Ex. She's slangy, and she'd shock your sort of woman out of her wits (Leonard Merrick). You'd always thought of them before as being jazzy--you know, hep cats, slangy (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="slank">
<B>slank, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) a past tense of <B>slink</B> (1). </DL>
<A NAME="slant">
<B>slant, </B>verb, noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to slope; go off at an angle; have or take an oblique direction or position. <BR> <I>Ex. Most handwriting slants to the right.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to cause to slant; slope. <BR> <I>Ex. The carpenter slanted the roof to allow water to run off.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S., Figurative.) to make (a story, news account, or report) biased by choosing or emphasizing certain facts. <BR> <I>Ex. Almost a third of them think that newspaper stories on their activities are "slanted" (Time).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a slanting direction or position; slope. <BR> <I>Ex. Has your roof a sharp slant?</I> (SYN) incline. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a way of regarding something; mental attitude; point of view. <BR> <I>Ex. Then the matter was given an entirely new slant by discoveries from another quarter (Scientific American). I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or nonpolitical, that doesn't have a slant (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(U.S.) a glance; look. <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S. Slang.) an Asian; Oriental (used in an unfriendly way). <DD><B> 5. </B>(Bacteriology.) a culture medium placed in a test tube slanted at a 30 degrees angle to give larger growing area for a mold. <DD><I>adj. </I> sloping; oblique. <BR> <I>Ex. A lean-to has a slant roof. The ship sailed in a slant direction.</I> </DL>
