slack
noun
- degree of looseness, length before tautness in a rope or chain
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L27092 on Wikidata ↗adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L340486 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /slæk/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.
- Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
“a slack rope”
- Weak; not holding fast.
“a slack hand”
- Moderate in some capacity.
“a slack oven”
- Moderate in some capacity.
“a slack wind”
- Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
“slack in duty or service”
“The Lord is not ſlacke cõcerning his promiſe (as ſome men count ſlackneſſe)[…].”
- Not active or busy, successful, or violent.
“Business is slack.”
“the slack period following the main tourist season”
- Excess; surplus to requirements.
“the slack capacity of an oil pipeline”
- Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
- Lax.
adv
Etymology: From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.
- Slackly.
“slack dried hops”
“Her clothes hung slack on her.”
name
Etymology: * As an English and Dutch surname, from the adjective slack. * Also as an English surname, from the noun slack (“shallow valley”). * Possibly also a Slovene surname Americanized from slak (“bindweed”), from Proto-Slavic *sъvolkъ. * The name of the software is an acronym of Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge.
- A surname.
- A place in England:
- A place in England:
- A place in England:
- A real-time collaboration app and platform launched in 2013.
“On Slack, the employees of Strategic Programming chattered about metadata tagging issues.”
noun
Etymology: Of unknown origin. Possibly related to Middle Dutch slacke or Middle Low German slecke. Doublet of slag.
- Small coal; coal dust.
“One of the important improvements of recent years has been attained by mixing the peat pulp as it passes through the grinding machine, with other inflammable materials, such as bituminous coal dust, or slack […]”
“It had rather a woolly and uneven beat and was inclined to prime, but there was no trouble with steaming even though the tender contained mostly small slack and dust.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English slakken, slaken, from Old English slacian, from Proto-Germanic *slakōną (“to slack, slacken”).
- To slacken.
“I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betrayes his maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovve vvhat my boy hath don; Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out.”
“In this business of growing rich, poor men […] should slack their pace.”
- To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
“Ne did ſhe let dull ſleepe once to relent, / Nor wearineſſe to ſlack her haſt, but fled / Euer alike,[…].”
- To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.
“Lime slacks.”
- To refuse to work as hard as one is supposed to.
“I can't afford to slack. This job is all I have!”