slash 
[< 
slash 1 (slash), n. [< xlaslt 1 , c.] 1. A cut; a 
gash ; a slit. 
They circumcise themselves, and mark their faces with 
2. Dashing; recklessly r 
gait. 3. very big; great 
A slashing fortune. 
5685 slate 
rapid: as, a slaxhimj slat-bar (slut'biir), " The bar of the limber of 
; slapping. [Colloq.'j a siege-howitzer between the splinter-bar and 
the bolster, connecting the futchells. 
Dickens, Hard Times. 
slatch 1 (sliich), H. [An assibilated form of 
m c^itU, True Travels, 1. 50. H^^^Mj^^S 1 ~7^^Nau^ (a) The slack of a rope. (6) A 
round trom South Carolina to Louisiana along J f fi < ther- (f .) A brie f pass . 
the coast, and in the West Indies. It is a fair- V~" hrppyp 
sized tree, with a wood nearly equaling that of the long- , <T i.,? , , u\ , .- rA t rvf M*2 1 To 
leafed pine, though rarely made into lumber. Also called slatch- (slacli), r. !. |A \ar. OI sia 
swamp-pine, bastard pine, and meadow-pine. Sargent. dabble in mire. [Scotch.] 
slashy (slash'i), a. [< slash 2 + -y l . Cf . sloshy, slat-crimper (slat'krim"per), . A machine 
Fletcher and Roideii, iiaiil in the Mill, iv. 2. slushy.'] Wet and dirty. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.] for compressing the ends of slats to make them 
Andrew Fail-service . . . had only taken this recumbent slat 1 (slat), v. ; pret. and pp. slatted, ppr. slat- fit mortises cut to receive them, 
posture to avoid the slashes, stabs, and pistol-balls which n n n, r< ME. slatten, sleaten, sclatten, scletten, slate 1 (slat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. slated, ppr. 
for a moment or two were flying in various directions. 1- - - " -" 
Scott, Kob Roy, xxxix. 
2. A random, sweeping cut at something with 
an edged instrument, as a sword or an ax, or 
with a whip or switch. 
time; for Don Mar- 
3. A slit cut in the stuff from which a garment 
.. ~. 3 , I V/J. 1111YI, A-1V1,,. OVI/H*) u. mv., , prv* 
is made, intended to show a different and usu- root o f stay : see sial. Cf.slaught.~\ I. trans. 
1 To throw or cast down violently or careless- 
. Eng. and U. S.] 2. To strike ; 
ally bright-colored material underneath. This 
manner of decorating garments was especially in use In the 
sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth century. 
Compare panel, and see cut under puffed. 
Her gown was a green Turkey grogram, cut all into 
panes or slashes, from the shoulder and sleeves unto the 
foot, and tied up at the distance of about a hand's-breadth 
everywhere with the same ribbon with which her hair was 
bound. 
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Life (ed. Howells), p. 112. 
Hence 4. A piece of tape or worsted lace 
placed on the sleeves of non-commissioned of- 
ficers to distinguish them from privates; a 
stripe. 5. A clearing in a wood; any gap or 
opening in a wood, whether caused by the 
operations of woodmen or by wind or fire. 
Compare slashing, 2. 
All persons having occasion to burn a fallow or start 
a fire in any old chopping, winA-slash, bush or berry lot, 
swamp "viaie" or beaver meadow, shall give five days' 
notice. New York Times, April 13, 1886. 
6. pi. Same as slashing, 3. 7. A wet or 
. , 
, jerk. 
knock; beat; bang. 
JHmdoza. How did you kill him? 
Malevole. Slatted his brains out, then soused him in the 
briny sea. Marston and Webster, Malcontent iv. 1. 
II. intrans. To flap violently, as the sails 
when blown adrift in a violent wind, or when 
in a calm the motion of the ship strikes them 
set a dog loose at. [Prov. Eng.] 
Heo . . . sletten him with hundes. 
Life of St. Jttliana (E. E. T. S.), p. 52. (Stratmann.) 
2. To haul over the coals ; take to task harshly 
or rudely; berate; abuse; scold; hold up to 
ridicule ; criticize severely : as, the work was 
slated in the reviews. [Colloq., Eng.] 
;rateful, you set to and slate me ! 
. Blackmore, Kit and Kitty, xxxi. 
And instead of being j 
B. D 
None the less I'll slate him. I'll slate him ponderously 
in the cataclysm. R. KipKny, The Light that Failed, iv. 
against the masts and rigging. 
The two top-gallant-sails were still hanging in the bunt- ' " ' _ , .I-M- *; 
lines, and slatting and jerking as though they would take slate 2 (slat), H, and a. [< ME. slat, slatte, slate, 
the masts out of her. sclate, usually selat, sclatte: see MOP.J I. 
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 351. 
(slat), H. [< slatl, .] 1. A sudden flap 
or slap; a sharp blow or stroke. 
The sail . . . bellied out over our heads, and again, by 
a slat of the wind, blew in under the yard with a fearful 
jerk. Ji. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 257. 
2. A spot; stain. [Prov. Eng.] 3. A spent 
salmon, or one that has spawned. 
.. salmon, or one mai uas spawueu. 
swampy place overgrown with bushes: often slat2(sl ; t); . pret . and plaited, ppr .slatting. 
in the plural. 
Although the inner lands want these benefits [of game] 
(which, however, no pond or slash is without), yet even 
they have the advantage of wild-turkeys, &c. 
Beverley, Virginia, ii. t 27. 
Henry Clay, the great Commoner, as his friends loved 
to call him, was spoken of during election-time as the 
Miller Boy of the Stashes. 
S. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 250. 
8. A mass of coal which has been crushed and 
shattered by a movement of the earth's crust. 
[Wales.] 
Thus, the latter [the coal), which is there nearly all in 
the state of culm or anthracite, has been for the most 
Same as slate 1 ! [Prov. Eng.] 
ilat 3 (slat), v. i. and t.; pret. and pp. slatted, ppr. 
slatting. [Perhaps another use of slat 1 ; other- 
wise a var. of "slate; < OF. esclater, shiver, splin- 
ter: see slate?. Cf. slatf, n.] To split ; crack. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
And withall such maine blowes were dealt to and fro 
with axes that both head-peeces and habergeons were 
slat and dashed a peeces. 
Holland, tr. of Ammianus MarceUinus (1609). (Nares.) 
If. A thin, flat stone or piece of stone ; a thin 
plate or flake. See slat 3 , 1. 
With sunne and the frost togither, it [the Columbine 
marll will resolve and cleave into most thin slates or flakes. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 8. 
Especially 2. A piece or plate of the stone 
hence called slate. (See def. 3.) Specifically 
(a) A plate of slate used for covering in or roofing build- 
ings ; a tile of slate, (b) A tablet of slate, usually in- 
closed in a wooden frame, used for writing, especially by 
school-children ; hence, any similar tablet used for this 
purpose. 
The door, which moved with difficulty on its creaking 
and rusty hinges, being forced quite open, a square and 
sturdy little urchin became apparent, with cheeks as red 
as an apple. ... A book and a small slate under his arm 
indicated that he was on his way to school. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iii. 
3. A rock the most striking characteristic of 
which is its fissile structure, or capability of 
Slat 3 (slat), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also slatte; being easily split or cleft into thin plates of 
< ME slat, slatte, usually sclat, sklat, sclate, nearly uniform thickness and smooth surfaces. 
/ oflot t,o alafc (CiV pxrint CWallnoTi The rocks in which a fissile structure is particularly well 
sclatte, a flat stone, slate, < OF. esclat (Walloon 
slasher (slash'er), s. [< stesft 1 4- -er 1 .] 1. One 
who or that which slashes. Specifically (a) A cut- 
ting weapon, as a sword. 
" Had he no arms ? " asked the Justice. " Ay, ay, they 
are never without barkers and slashers." 
Scott, Guy Mannering, xxxii. 
(6) An instrument or appliance of various kinds used in 
some slashing operation. (1) In brickmakinfl, a piece of 
wrought-iron three feet in length, three inches wide, and 
three eighths of an inch thick, set in a handle about two 
and one half feet long and two inches in diameter, used to 
slash or cut through the clay in all directions with a view 
to detecting and picking out any small stones that may 
be found in it. 
He [the temperer] next trims the small pile of clay into 
shape, and commences to cut through it with an instru- 
ment called a slasher, and any stone that he may strike 
with the slasher is picked out of the clay. 
C. T. Davis, Bricks and Tiles, p. 107. 
(2) A machine for sizing, drying, and finishing warp-yarns. 
2. The thrasher or fox-shark. [Local, Eng.] 
slashing (slash'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slash*, 
v.~\ 1. A slash or pane in a garment. 
Gowns of "silver plush and port-wine satin," with bro- 
caded trains gleaming fitfully with slashings of exquisite 
pink. Mheneeum, Oct. 27, 1888, p. 551. 
2. In milit. engin., the felling of trees so that 
their tops shall fall toward the enemy, and thus 
prevent or retard his approach ; also (in singu- 
lar or plural), the trees thus felled: same as 
abatis 2 , 1. 3. pi. Trees or branches cut down 
by woodmen. Also slashes. 
slashing (slash'ing), p. a. 1. That cuts and 
slashes at random; recklessly or unmerciful- 
ly severe; that cuts right and left indiscrimi- 
nately: as, a slashing criticism or article. [Col- 
loq.] 
Here, however, the Alexandrian critics, with all their 
slashing insolence, showed themselves sons of the feeble ; 
they groped about in twilight. De (juincey, Homer, i. 
He maybe called the inventor of the modern slashing 
And thei not fyndinge in what part thei schulde here 
him yn, for the cumpenye of peple, stijeden vp on the 
rof, and by the sclattis thei senten him doun with the bed 
in to the myddil, byfore Ihesu. Wyclif, Luke v. 19. 
The gallery is covered with blew slatte like our Cornish 
tile. Coryat, Crudities, I. 83, sig. D. 
And for the roof, instead of slats, 
Is covered with the skins of bats, 
With moonshine that are gilded. 
Drayton, Nymphidia. 
2. A thin slab or veneer of stone sometimes 
used to face rougher stonework or brickwork. 
E. H. Knight. 3. A long narrow strip or slip 
of wood. Specifically (a) A strip of wood used to fas- 
ten together larger pieces, as on a crate, etc. (6) One of 
a number of strips forming the bottom boards of a bed- 
stead, (c) One of a number of strips secured across an 
opening so as to leave intervals between them, aa in a 
chicken-coop, rabbit-hutch, etc. (d) One of the cross-laths 
of a Venetian blind, or the like. 
Virginia, . . . kneeling behind the slats of her bedroom 
window-blinds, watched the little Canadian fishing wagon 
ney-pieces, writing slates, etc. The valuable varieties of 
roofing-slate come almost exclusively from the older meta- 
morphic rocks. (See cleavage &n& foliation.) North Wales 
is by far the most important slate-producing region of the 
world, some beds having been worked there aa early as 
the twelfth century. The principal quarries are in south- 
ern Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire in the Lower Silu- 
rian, and in Montgomeryshire in the Upper Silurian. 
There are also quarries in Cornwall in the Devonian, and 
slates of the same geological age are obtained in France 
in considerable quantity, as well as in parts of Germany 
adjacent to the Rhine. There are various quarries in 
Devonshire in the Carboniferous ; but in most of them the 
slate furnished is not of first-rate quality ; and, in general, 
it may be said that the Carboniferous is the highest geolo- 
gical formation producing what can properly be denom- 
inated slate. The slate of the United States comes almost 
entirely from a very low position in the geological series, 
as is also the case in Europe. Pennsylvania and Vermont 
are the principal slate-producing States, and they together 
furnished in 1889 nearly six sevenths in value of the total 
production of the country; but Pennsylvania's share was 
thre 
'ee times as great as that of Vermont. 
4. A preliminary list of candidates prepared 
as it drove away. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 220. by party managers for acceptance by a nomi- 
() In carriage-building, one of the thin strips of wood or nating caucus or convention: so called as be- 
iron used to fonn the ribs of the top or canopy of a buggy, j ng wr itten down, as it were on a slate, and 
carryall, or rockaway, or to form the bottom of a wagon- Ql ? _ or i n _ prnsprl likp a school bov's writing- 
body. (/) One of the radial strips used in forming the a" 6 "" 1 ^f 86 , 11 llke a S c _ n 
body. (/) One of the radial strips 
bottom of a wicker basket. 
4. pi. Dark-blue ooze, rather hard, left dry by 
the ebb of the sea. HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Slat-weaving machine, a form of loom for weaving, in 
which the wettis slats, palm-leaf, or some similar material. 
The weft is cut in lengths corresponding to the width of 
the goods, and put into the shed piece by piece. 
II. n. Made of slats slat awning, a wooden or 
metal awning made of slats. Slat matting, a kind of 
wood carpet made of veneers or wooden slats fastened 
upon a fabric. In some examples narrow strips of differ- 
ent sorts of wood are glued upon cloth, and dried, and 
the surface is then planed and finished. Slat seat, a 
seat made of narrow strips of wood, usually arranged lon- 
gitudinally with a space between each pair. Slat weir, 
a weir or pound for the capture of fish having slats instead 
of netting. [Cape Cod, Massachusetts.] 
article. 
llvi:uiui ui Hie luuuuiii ***</ _ ^ . ' - r , .' .. .. .-. , ... j 
Athenxum, Jan. 14, 1888, p. 43. S. Lat. An abbreviation of south latitude. 
[U. S. political slang.] Adhesive slate, see ad- 
hesive. Aluminous slate, slate containing alumina, 
used in the manufacture of alum. Alum slate. See 
alum. Argillaceous slate, clay slate (which see, under 
clay). Back of a slate. Seeewil. Bituminous slate, 
soft slate impregnated with bitumen. Chlorite slate. 
See chlorite. Drawing-Slate. Same as black cAnZt(a) 
(which see, under chalk). Hone or whet slate, slate 
which has much silica in its composition, and is used for 
hones. Hornblende slate, slate containing hornblende. 
Knotted slate See Jmofi, n., 3 (f). Lithographic 
slate See lithographic. Polishing slate. See poliih- 
ina-slate. Rain-spot slate, certain slates forming part 
of the Lower Silurian series in Wales : so called from their 
mottled appearance. Skiddaw Slates, a series of slaty 
and gritty rocks occurring in the Lake District of England, 
and forming there the base of the fossiliferous rocks. The 
most important fossils which they contain are graptolites. 
Stonesfield slate, i n yeol., a division of the Great Oolite 
