slash
UK /slaʃ/ · US /slæʃ/ noun, verb, adverb, conjunction
Forms slashes slashing slashed
- noun A swift, broad cutting stroke, especially one made with an edged weapon or whip. “A slash of his blade just missed my ear.”
- noun (sports) A wide striking motion made with an implement such as a cricket bat, hockey stick, or lacrosse stick. “He took a wild slash at the ball but the captain saved the team's skin by hacking it clear and setting up the team for a strike on the goal.”
- noun (figuratively) A sharp reduction in resources allotted. “After the war ended, the army saw a 50% slash in their operating budget.”
- noun A deep cut or laceration, as made by an edged weapon or whip. “He was bleeding from a slash across his cheek.”
- noun (botany) A deep taper-pointed incision in a plant.
- noun (fashion) A slit in an outer garment, usually exposing a lining or inner garment of a contrasting color or design.
- noun (US and Canada) A clearing in a forest, particularly one made by logging, fire, or other violent action.
- noun (originally US, typography) The slash mark: the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩.
- verb To cut with a swift broad stroke of an edged weapon. “They slashed at him with their swords, but only managed to nick one of his fingers.”
- verb To produce a similar wound with a savage strike of a whip.
- verb (ice hockey) To strike swiftly and laterally with a hockey stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.
- verb (figuratively) To reduce sharply. “All prices slashed!”
- verb (fashion) To create slashes in a garment.
- verb (figuratively) To criticize cuttingly.
- verb To strike violently and randomly, particularly:
- verb (cricket) To swing wildly at the ball.
- adverb Used to note the sound or action of a slash.
- conjunction (Canada, US) Used to connect two or more identities in a list. “Saul Hudson is a famous musician/songwriter.”
- conjunction (Canada, US) Used to list alternatives.
- noun (obsolete, rare) A drink of something; a draft.
Synonyms
gash cunt slash mark solidus stroke forward slash forward stroke foreslash frontslash front slash virgule shilling mark slants slant lines separatrix scratch comma oblique oblique mark oblique stroke oblique dash cut slice diagonal cut down flog welt whip lather lash strap
Antonyms
Etymology
Late Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”).
Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.
Uncertain. Compare Scots slash (“large splash”), possibly from Old French esclache. Slang use for urination attested from the 1950s.
Uncertain. Compare British dialectal slashy (“wet and dirty, miry”) and Scots slash (“act of walking forcefully through water or mud”) and slatch (“wet and muddy place, mire”). Perhaps related to Swedish slask (“slush”).
Compare also slash (“clearing in a forest”): in many cases it is difficult to tell whether that sense or this one is meant. (Also compare flash (“a marsh; a pool of water”).)
See slatch
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cut by striking violently and at random; to cut in long slits.
- verb To lash; to ply the whip to. [R.] King.
- verb To strike violently and at random, esp. with an edged instrument; to lay about one indiscriminately with blows; to cut hastily and carelessly.
- noun A long cut; a cut made at random.
Etymology [OE. slaschen, of uncertain origin; cf. OF. esclachier to break, esclechier, esclichier, to break, and E. slate, slice, slit, v. t.]
Etymology [Cf. Slashy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “slash”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details