slate 
group, as developed in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, 
consisting of thin-bedded calcareous sandstone, extivm< !> 
rich in a great variety of organic remains, among which 
are the mammalian genera Amphitheriitm, Phalazcotht'- 
rium, and Stereognathug. Portions of this formation have 
been worked for a roofing-material from a remote period. 
II. a. Of the color of slate ; slate-colored ; of 
a dark, slightly bluish-gray color of medium 
luminosity. 
slate 2 (slat), v. t.; pret. and pp. slated, ppr. 
slating. [< slate'*, .] 1. To cover with slate 
or plates of stone : as, to slate a roof. 
A high dated roof, with fantastic chimneys. 
Longfellow, Hyperion, i. 5. 
2. To enter as on a slate ; suggest or propose 
as a candidate by entering the name on the 
slate or ticket : as, A. B. is already slated for the 
mayoralty. See I., 4. [U. S. political slang.] 
3. In tanning, to cleanse from hairs, etc., with 
a slater. See slater, 3. 
slate-ax (slat 'aks), w. A slaters' tool : same as 
sax 1 , 2. 
slate-black (slat'blak), a. Of a slate color hav- 
ing less than one tenth the luminosity of white. 
slate-blue (slat'blo), a. Dull-blue with a gray- 
ish tinge; schistaceous. 
slate-clay (slat'kla), n. Same as shale%. 
slate-coal (slat'kol), . 1. A variety of cannel- 
coal; "a hard, dull variety of coal" (Gresley). 
This name is given to one of the beds of coal in the Leices- 
tershire (England) coal-field ; it is nearly the same as 
splint-coal, also called tlatu or bony coal, and contains slaty 
matters interstratified, which are called bone in Pennsyl- 
vania (see bond, 9). 
2. As the translation of the German Schiefer- 
kohle, a somewhat slaty or laminated variety 
of lignite, or brown coal. 
slate-colored (slat'kul"ord), a. Of a very dark 
gray, really without chroma, or almost so, but 
appearing a little bluish. 
slate-cutter (slat'kut*er), n. A machine for 
trimming pieces of slate into the forms desired 
for roofing- or writing-slates. It consists of a table 
with knives pivoted at one end, and operated by hand- 
levers. Also called slate-cutting machine. 
slate-frame (slat'fram), . A machine for 
dressing and finishing the wooden frames for 
writing-slates. 
slate-gray (slat'gra), . A relatively luminous 
slate color. 
slate-peg (slat'peg), n. A form of nail used 
for fastening slates on a roof; a slaters' nail. 
slate-pencil (slat'pen' / sil), . A pencil of soft 
slate, or like material, used for writing or figur- 
ing on framed pieces of slate. 
Slater (sla'ter), . [ME. slater, sctoter; < slate? 
+ -!.] 1. One who makes or lays slates; 
one whose occupation is the roofing of build- 
ings with slate. 
But th' masons, and slaters, and such like have left their 
work, and locked up the yards. 
Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, v. 
2. A general name of cursorial isopods. slaters 
proper, or wood-slaters, also called wood-life, hoy-lice, and 
sow-bugs, are terrestrial oniscids, of the family Onistidte, as 
the British Porcellio scaber. Box-slaters are Idoteidse; 
water-slaters are Asellids, as the gribble, Limnoria tere- 
brans; shield-slaters belong to the genus Cassidina ; globe- 
slaters to Sphseroma. The cheliferous slaters are Tanai- 
dee. See the technical names, and cuts under Oniscus and 
Isopoda. 
3. A tool, with blade of slate, used for fleshing 
or slating hides. 
slate-saw (slat'sa), . A form of circular stone- 
saw for cutting up or trimming slabs of slate. 
slate-spar (slat'spar), . A slaty form of cal- 
careous spar: same as shiver-spar. 
slather (slaTH'er), . [Origin obscure.] A 
quantity; a large piece: usually in the plural. 
[Slang.] 
I could give you twenty-four more, if they were needed, 
to show how exactly Mr. can repeat slathers and slath- 
ers of another man's literature. New Princeton Rev., V. 50. 
slatify (sla'ti-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. slatified, 
ppr. -slatifying. [< slate 2 + --/y.] To make 
slaty in character; give a slaty character to. 
slatiness (sla'ti-ues), n. Slaty character or 
quality. 
slating 1 (sla'ting), n. [< ME. slating; verbal 
n. of slate 1 , r.] 1. Baiting. 
Bay of bor, of }>o\e-slatyng [bull-baiting). 
Kyng Alisaunder, 1. 200. (HalliweU.) 
2. An unsparing criticism ; a severe reprimand. 
[Colloq., Eng.] 
slating* (sla'ting), n. [Verbal n. of slate**, o.] 
1. The operation of covering roofs with slates. 
2. A roofing of slates. 3. Slates taken col- 
lectively; the material for slating: as, the whole 
slating of a house. 4. A liquid preparation 
for coating blackboards so that they may be 
marked upon with chalk or steatite : generally 
5686 
called liquid slating. Such preparations are 
better than oil-paint, as they do not glaze the 
surface. 
To apply the slating, have the surface smooth and per- 
tly free from grease. Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 257. 
fec 
slat-iron (slat'i"ern), w. In a folding carriage- 
top, an iron shoe incased in leather, forming a 
finishing to the bow or slat which is pivoted by 
it to the body of the vehicle. 
slat-machine (slat'ma-shen*), n. In icood- 
irorkiiiii : (a) A machine for cutting slats from 
a block, (ft) A machine for making the tenons 
on blind-slats, and for inserting the staples by 
which such slats are connected. 
Slat-plane (slat'plan), n. A form of plane for 
cutting thin slats for blinds, etc. In some forms 
the stock carries a number of cutters, so that several slats 
are cut simultaneously. E. H. Knight. 
slattet (slat), n. See slaft. 
slatted (slat'ed), p. a. [< slats + -ed?.] Fur- 
nished with, made of, or covered with slats: 
as, a slatted frame. 
Blatter (slat'er), r. t. [Freq. ofslaft : see slafl.] 
1. intrans. 1. To be careless of dress and dirty ; 
be slovenly. 
Dawgos, or Dawkin, a negligent or dirty slattering wo- 
man. Ray, North Country Words. 
2. To be wasteful or improvident. 
This man ... is a lord of the treasury, and is not cov- 
etous neither, but runs out merely by slattering and neg- 
ligence. .tii-iji. Journal to Stella, six. 
II. trans. To waste, or fail to make a proper 
use of ; spill or lose carelessly. HalliweU. 
Slattern (slat'ern), . and a. [Prob. (with un- 
orig. as in bittern 1 , or perhaps through the 
ppr. slattering) < slatter, r.] I. . A woman 
who is negligent of her dress, or who suffers her 
clothes and household furniture to be in disor- 
der; one who is not neat and nice; a slut. 
We may always observe that a gossip in politics is a slat- 
tern in her family. Addison, The Freeholder, No. 26. 
Her mother was a partial, ill-judging parent, a dawdle, 
&slattern, . . . whose house was the scene of mismanage- 
ment and discomfort from beginning to end. 
Jane Austen. Mansfield Park, xxxix. 
II. a. Pertaining to or characteristic of a 
slattern; slovenly; slatternly. 
Beneath the lamp her tawdry ribbons glare, 
The new-scour'd manteau, and the slattern air. 
Gay, Trivia, iii. 270. 
slatternt (slat'ern), v. t. [< slattern, n.; cf. 
slatter, ?.] To consume carelessly or idly; 
waste : with away. [Rare.] 
All that I desire is, that you will never slattern away 
one minute in idleness. Chesterfield. 
slatternliness (slat'ern-li-nes), n. Slatternly 
habits or condition. 
slatternly (slat'ern-li), a. [< slattern + -ly 1 .] 
Pertaining to a slattern ; having the habits of a 
slattern; slovenly. 
A very slatternly, dirty, but at the same time very gen- 
teel French maid is appropriated to the use of my daughter. 
Chesterfield. 
Every court had its carven well to show me, in the noisy 
keeping of the water-carriers and the slatternly, statuesque 
gossips of the place. Howells, Venetian Life, ii. 
slatternly (slat'ern-li), adv. [< slatternly, .] 
In a slovenly way. 
slatterpoucn (slat'er-pouch), n. [< *slatterlor 
slat 1 + pouch. Cf.slappaty-pouch.~] A kind of 
game. 
When they were boyes at trap, or slatterpouch, 
They'd sweat. 
Qayton, Notes to Don Quixote, p. 86. (Wares.) 
slattery (slat'er-i), n. t< slatter + -yi.] Wet; 
sloppy. [Pi'ov. Eng.] 
slaty (sla'ti), a. [<to2 + _ y i.] Resembling 
slate ; having the nature or properties of slate : 
as, a slaty color or texture ; a slaty feel. 
The path . . . scaled the promontory by one or two 
rapid zigzags, carried in a broken track along the precipi- 
tous face of a slaty grey rock. Scott, Rob Roy, x. 
Slaty cleavage, cleavage, as of rocks, into thin plates or 
lamina, like those of slate : applied especially to those 
cases in which the planes of cleavage produced by pres- 
sure are often oblique to the true stratification, and per- 
fectly symmetrical and parallel even when the strata are 
contorted. Slaty gneiss, a variety of gneiss in which 
the scales of mica or crystals of hornblende, which are 
usually minute, form thin laminie, rendering the rock 
easily cleavable. 
slaughtt (slat), . [< ME. slaught, slauht, slagt, 
< AS. sleaht, sleht, sliht, styht, killing, slaughter, 
fight, battle (chiefly in comp.) (= OS. slahta = 
OFries. slacbte = D. slagt = MLG. slack t = OHG. 
slahta, slaht, MHG. slahte, slant, G. scMacht, kill- 
ing, slaughter, fight, battle, = Sw. slagt, killing 
(< LG.), = loel.sldtta = Dan. sleet, mowing; 
with formative -t, < AS. sledn (pp. slegen), etc., 
Slav 
strike, kill, slay: see slay 1 . Cf. nianshttti/lit, on- 
slaught.] Killing; slaughter. 
Myche slaghte in the slade, & slyngyng of horse ! 
Mony derfe there deghit, was dole to beholde. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6006. 
slaughter (sla'ter), n. [<TA'E.slaiigliter,slaiiltlir, 
xlinitii; slinrti/r, slagiiter, < AS. as 'if "slfnlitttr (= 
Icel. sldtr, butchers' meat, = Norw. dial, ulati- 
ter, cattle for slaughter), with formative -tor 
(as in lilrahtor, E. laughter), < sledn (pp. sli'iji n ). 
strike, kill, slay: seeslay 1 . Cf. Icel. slatr, butch- 
ers' meat. Cf.sla ught.~\ The act of slaying or 
killing, especially of many persons or animals. 
(a) Applied to persons, a violent putting to death ; ruth- 
less, wanton, or brutal killing ; great destruction of life 
by violent means ; carnage ; massacre : as, the slaughter of 
men in battle. 
And zit natheles, men seyn, thei shalle gon out in the 
tyme of Antecrist, and that thei schulle maken gret 
slaughtre of Cristene men. itandeville, Travels, p. 267. 
One speech ... I chiefly loved ; 'twas Eneas' tale to 
Dido ; and thereabout of it especially where he speaks of 
Priam's slaughter. Shak., Hamlet, 11. 2. 469. 
(6) Applied to beasts, butchery ; the killing of oxen, sheep, 
or other animals for market, (c) Great or sweeping reduc- 
tion in the price of goods offered for sale. [Advertising 
cant.] Slaughter of the Innocents. See innocent. 
=8yn. (a) Havoc. See killl. 
slaughter (sla'ter), v. t. [= Icel. sldtra = Norw. 
xhiatra, slaughter (cattle) ; from the noun.] 1. 
To kill ; slay ; especially, to kill wantonly, ruth- 
lessly, or in great numbers; massacre: as, to 
slaughter men in battle. 
Many a dry drop seem'd a weeping tear. 
Shed for the staughter'd husband by the wife. 
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 1376. 
Onward next morn the slaughtered man they bore, 
With him that slew him. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 349. 
2. To butcher; kill, as animals for the market 
or for food : as, to slaughter oxen or sheep. =Syn 
1. Slay, Massacre, etc. See Mil. 
Slaughterdomt (slft'ter-dum), n. [< slaughter 
+ -rfow.] Slaughter; carnage. [Rare.] 
Lord, what mortal feuds, what furious combats, what 
cruel bloodshed, what horrible glauffhterdom, have been 
committed for the point of honour and some few courtly 
ceremonies ! G. Harvey, Four Letters. 
slaughterer (sla'ter-er),n. [< slaughter + -eri.] 
A person employed in slaughtering ; a butcher. 
Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth 
Which giveth many wounds when one will kill. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 6. 109. 
slaughter-house (sla'ter-hous), . [< slaughter 
+ house. Cf. Dan. slagterhus (< slagter, a butch- 
er, + hus, house), D. slagthuis, MLG. slachte- 
hiis, as E. slaught + house.'] A house or place 
where animals are butchered for the market; 
an abattoir; hence, figuratively, the scene of 
a massacre ; the scene of any great destruction 
of human life. 
Not those [men] whose malice goes beyond their power, 
and want only enough of that to make the whole World a 
Slaughter-house. Stillingfieet, Sermons, I. v. 
With regard to the Spanish inquisition, it mattered little 
whether the slaughter-house were called Spanish or Flem- 
ish, or simply the Blood Council. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 16. 
Slaughter-house cases, three cases in the United States 
Supreme Court. 1873 (16 Wall., 36X so called because sus- 
taining the validity of a statute of Louisiana creating a 
monopoly in the slaughtering business in a particular dis- 
trict, on the ground that it was a regulation within the 
police power for protection of health, etc. The decision 
is important in its bearing upon the fourteenth amend- 
ment to the United States Constitution. 
Slaughtermant (sla'ter-man), n. [< slaughter 
+ man.'] One employed in killing ; a slayer ; 
an executioner. 
Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen. 
Shak., Hen. V., iii. 3. 41. 
All his aids 
Of ruffians, slaves, and other slaughtermen. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, v. 4. 
Slaughterous (sla't6r-us), a. [< slaughter + 
-OM#.] Bent on killing; murderous. 
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, 
Cannot once start me. Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. 14. 
Such butchers as yourselues neuer want 
A colour to excuse your slaughterous mind. 
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, I. 53). 
slaughterously (sla'ter-us-li), adv. Murder- 
ously; so as to slay. 
slaughter-weapon (sla'ter-wep'pn), n. A 
weapon used for slaughtering. 
Every man a slaugfiter weapon [or battle axe, R. V. in 
margin] in his hand. Ezek. ix. 2. 
slaundert, and v. An obsolete form of slan- 
der. 
Slav (slav), n. and a. [Also Slave, Sclav, Sclavs; 
< G. MHG. SMare, Slave (ML. Sclarus, Slat-im, 
JUi-laphus, MGr. 2/>?.<i/3or, 2.d^of), a Slav, a Sla- 
