sloke 
table substance in the bod of rivers. 2. Same 
as later'*, 1. [Scotch in both uses.] 
sloken (slok'u), r. Same as sloekrn. 
sloo (slo), n. A dialectal pronunciation of 
slougK 1 . [U. S. and prov. Eng.] 
sloom 1 (slom), n. [Also dial, sloum; < ME. 
*sloume, sloitmbe, slume, < AS. sluma, slumber; 
cf. sloom' 2 , r., slumber."] A gentle sleep; slum- 
ber. 
Merlin gon to slume 
Swulc he wolde slcepen. 
Layamon, 1. 17995. 
sloom 2 (slom), i>. i. [Also dial, sloum, sleam; < 
ME. slumen, slummen = MLG. slomen, slommen 
= MHO. slumen, slummen, slumber; from the 
noun, ME. "sloume, slume, < AS. sluma, slumber : 
seetoo/l,n.,andcf. slumber.] 1. To slumber; 
waste ; decay. 
(Sire Telomew)cairys into a cabayne, quare the kyng ligges, 
J-'aml him sloinande and on slepe, and sleely him rayses. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), Gloss., p. 198. (K. Alex., 
p. 176.) 
2. To become weak or flaccid, as plants and 
flowers touched by frost. 
[Now only prov. Eug. in both uses.] 
sloom 3 (slom), n. See sloam. 
Bloomy (slo'mi), a. [< shorn* + -y 1 .] Dull; 
slow; inactive. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
An' Sally wur sloomy an' draggle-taail'd. 
Tennyson, Northern Cobbler. 
sloop 1 (s!6p), . [< D. sloep, MD. sloepe (also 
dim. sloepken), a sloop (cf. LG. sluup, slupe = 
lop = G. sctialuppe, etc. ) = Sp. Pg. cJtalupa = It. 
scialuppa, a shallop : see shallop, j A small fore- 
and-aft rigged vessel with one mast, generally 
Sloop. 
carrying a jib, fore-staysail, mainsail, and gaff- 
topsail. Some sloops formerly had a square topsail. It 
is generally understood that a sloop differs from a cutter 
by having a flxed instead of a running bowsprit, but the 
names are used somewhat indiscriminately. In the days 
of sailing vessels, and of the earlier steam naval marine, 
now becoming obsolete, a sloop of war was a vessel of 
ship-rig carrying guns on the upper deck only, and rather 
smaller than a corvette. See also cut under cutter. 
A Jamaica Sloop, that was come over on the Coast to 
trade, . . . went with us. 
Dumpier, Voyages, an. 1681 (3d ed. corrected, 1698). 
sloop 2 (slop), . In lumbering, a strong crutch 
of hard wood, with a strong bar across the 
limbs, used for drawing timber out of a swamp 
or inaccessible place. [Canada.] 
sloop 2 (slop), v. t. To draw (logs of timber) on 
a sloop. [Canada.] 
sloop-rigged (slop'rigd), a. Rigged like a sloop 
that is, having one mast with jib and main- 
sail. 
sloop-smack (slop'smak), n. A sloop-rigged 
fishing-smack. [New Eng.] 
Sloop-yacht (slop'yot), n. A sloop-rigged 
yacht. 
slop 1 (slop), n. [< ME. sloppe, a pool, < AS. 
*sloppe, 'slyppe, a puddle of filth (used of the 
sloppy droppings of a cow, and found only in 
comp., in the plant-names cu-sloppe, cowslip, 
oxan-Klyppe, oxlip : see cowslip, oxlip) ; of. slype, 
slipe, a viscid substance ; prob. < sliipan (pp. slo- 
pen), dissolve, slip : see slip 1 . Cf. Icel. slop, 
slimy offal of fish, slepja, slime (esp. of fishes 
and snakes) ; Ir. slab, Ir. Gael, sla-ib, mire, mud 
(see stafc 2 ).] 1. A puddle; a miry or slippery 
place. 
5702 
He [Arthur] . . . Londis [hinds] als a lyone, . . . 
Slippes in in the sloppes o-slant to the girdylle, 
.Swalters upe swyftly. 
Marie Arthure (E. E. T. S.X 1. 3924. 
2. Liquid carelessly dropped or spilled about; 
a wet place. 
The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was ex- 
cellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have med- 
dled with a tempest. 
Sydney Smith, Speech at Tauuton, 1S31, on the Reform Bill 
[not being passed. 
3. pi. Liquid food or nourishment; thin food, 
as gruel or thin broth prepared for the sick: 
so called in contempt. 
But thou, whatever slops she will have brought, 
Be thankful. Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, vi. 772. 
The sick husband here wanted for neither slops nor doc- 
tors. Sir R. L' Estrange. 
4. pi. The waste, dirty water, dregs, etc., of a 
house. 
As they passed, women from their doors tossed house- 
hold slops of every description into the gutter ; they ran 
into the next pool, which overflowed and stagnated. 
Mrs. OaslfeU, Mary Barton, vi. 
5. In ceram., same as slip 1 , 11. 
slop 1 (slop), v. ; pret. and pp. slopped, ppr. slop- 
ping. [< slop 1 , n. Prob. in part associated 
with slab?, slobber, etc.] I. trans. 1. To spill, 
as a liquid ; usually, to spill by causing to over- 
flow the edge of a containing vessel : as, to slop 
water on the floor in carrying a full pail. 2. To 
drink greedily and grossly ; swill. [Rare.] 3. 
To spill liquid upon ; soil by letting a liquid 
fall upon : as, the table was slopped with drink. 
= Syn. 1. Spill, Slop, Splash. Slopping Is a form of spill- 
ing : it is the somewhat sudden spilling of a considerable 
amount, which falls free from the receptacle and strikes 
the ground or floor flatly, perhaps with a sound resembling 
the word. Slopping Is always awkward or disagreeable. 
Splashing may be a form of spilling or of throwing : that 
which is splashed falls in larger amount than in slopping, 
making a noise like the sound of the word, and spreads 
by spattering or by flowing. 
II. in trans. 1. To be spilled or overflow, as 
a liquid, by the motion of the vessel contain- 
ing it : usually with over. 2. To work or walk 
in the wet; make a slop. [Colloq.] 
He came slopping on behind me. with the peculiar suck- 
ing noise at each footstep which broken boots make on a 
wet and level pavement. 
D. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xi. 
To slop over, figuratively, to do or say more than is wise, 
especially through eagerness or excess of zeal ; become 
too demonstrative or emotional. [Slang, U. S.] 
It may well be remembered that one of his [Washing- 
ton's] great distinctions was his moderation, his adhesion 
to the positive degree. As Artemus Ward says, " he never 
slopped over. " Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 818. 
slop 2 (slop), n. [< ME. slop, sloppe, slope, < 
ONorth. 'slop (in comp. oferslop), AS. 'slype, 
'slyp (in comp. oferslyp = leel. yfirsloppr, an 
outer gown), < Icel. sloppr, a long, loose gown ; 
so named from its trailing on the ground, < AS. 
sliipan (pp. slopen), slip (Icel. sleppa, pret. pi. 
slttppii, slip, etc.): see slip 1 . Cf. D. sUep, LG. 
slepe, G. schleppe, Dan. slseb, a train ; MD. slope, 
later sloop, a slipper; E. slip 1 , a garment, slip- 
per?, sleeve 1 , etc.; all ult. from the same source.] 
1. Originally, an outer garment, as a jacket or 
cassock ; in later provincial use, ' ' an outer gar- 
ment made of linen ; a smock-frock ; a night- 
gown" (Wright). 
A slope is a morning Cassock for Ladyes and gentile 
wemen, not open before. 
Bootee of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 28. 
2f. A garment covering the legs and the body 
below the waist, worn by men, and varying in 
cut according to the fashion: in this sense also 
in the plural. 
A German from the waist downward, all slops; and a 
Spaniard from the hip upward, no doublet. 
Shale., Much Ado, iii. 2. 36. 
When I see one were a perewig, I dreade his haire ; an- 
other wallowe in a greate sloppe, I mistrust the propor- 
tion of his thigh. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., v. 1. 
3. Clothing; ready-made clothing ; in the Brit- 
ish navy, the clothes and bedding of the men, 
which are supplied by the government at about 
cost price : usually in the plural. [Colloq.] 
I went to a back back street, with plenty of cheap cheap 
shops, 
And I bought an oilskin hat and a second-hand suit of 
slops. W. S. Gilbert, Bumboat Woman's Story. 
4f. An article of clothing made of leather, 
apparently shoes or slippers. They are men- 
tioned as of black, tawny, and red leather, and 
as being of small cost. 
A stitch'd taffeta cloak, a pair of slops 
Of Spanish leather. 
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, xi. 160. 
5. A tailor. [Slang, Eng.] 
slope-level 
slop-basin (slop'ba"sn), n. A basin for slops; 
especially, a vessel to receive the dregs from 
tea- or coffee-cups at table. 
slop-book (slop'biik), n. In the British navy, 
a register of clothing and small stores issued. 
slop-bowl (slop'bol), n. Same as slop-basin. 
Slop-bucket (slop'buk"et), . Same as slop- 
pail. 
slop-chest (slop'chest), n. A supply of sea- 
men's clothing taken on board ship to sell to 
the crew during a voyage. 
If a poor voyage has been made, or if the man has 
drawn on the slop-chest during the voyage to such an ex- 
tent as to ruin his credit, he becomes bankrupt ashore. 
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. >. 
Slop-dash (slop'dash), n. Weak, cold tea, or 
other inferior beverage ; slipslop. [Colloq.] 
Does he expect tea can be keeping hot for him to the 
end of time? He'll have nothing but slop-dash, though 
he 's a very genteel man. 
Miss Edgeworth, Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock, iii. 2. 
slope (slop), a. and n. [< ME. slope (chiefly as 
in aslope, q. v.), perhaps < AS. slopen, pp. of 
sliipan, slip: see slip 1 . Cf. aslope.'] I.t a. In- 
clined or inclining from a horizontal direction ; 
forming an angle with the plane of the hori- 
zon ; slanting ; aslant. 
Thou most cut it holding the edge of knyf toward the 
tree grounde, and kitt it soo with a dope draught 
Arnolds Chron., 1602 (ed. 1811), p. 168. 
This hedge I intend to be raised upon a bank, not steep, 
but gently slope. Bacon, Gardens (ed. 1884). 
The slope sun his upward beam 
Shoots against the dusky pole. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 98. 
The Cretan saw ; and, stooping, caus'd to glance 
From his slope shield the disappointed lance. 
Pope, Iliad, xili. 512. 
II. . 1. An oblique direction; obliquity; 
slant ; especially, a direction downward : as, a 
piece of timber having a slight slope. 2. A de- 
clivity or acclivity ; any ground whose surface 
forms an angle with the plane of the horizon. 
First through the length of yon hot terrace sweat ; 
And when up ten steep slopen you've dragg'd your thighs, 
Just at his study-door he'll bless your eyes. 
Pope, Moral Essays, Iv. 131. 
Specifically (o) In civil engin., an inclined bank of earth 
on the sides of a cutting or an embankment. See graded, 
2. (6) In coal-mining, an inclined passage driven in the 
bed of coal and open to the surface : a term rarely if ever 
used in metal-mines, in which shafts that are not vertical 
are called inclines. See shaft? and incline, (c) In /art., the 
Inclined surface of the interior, top, or exterior of a par- 
apet or other portion of a work. See cut under parapet. 
3. In math., the rate of change of a scalar func- 
tion of a vector, relatively to that of the varia- 
ble, in the direction in which this change is a 
maximum. Banquette slope, In. fort. See banquette. 
Exterior slope, in fort, see exterior. Inside slope, 
in coal-mining, a slope inside the mine. See incline, 3. 
[Pennsylvania. ] Interior Slope, in fort. See interior. 
slope (slop), v. ; pret. and pp. sloped, ppr. slop- 
ing. [< slope, .] I. trans. 1. To bend down; 
direct obliquely; incline; slant. 
Though palaces and pyramids do slope 
Their heads to their foundations. 
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 67. 
He .-("//.' his flight 
To blest Arabia's Meads. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 52. 
2. To form with a slope or obliquity, as in 
gardening, fortification, and the like, and in 
tailoring and dressmaking : as, to slope a piece 
of cloth in cutting Slope arms (milit.), a command 
in manual exercise to carry the rifle obliquely on the shoul- 
der. To slope the standard (milit.), to dip or lower the 
standard : a form of salute. 
II. intrans. 1. To take an oblique direction ; 
be inclined ; descend or ascend in a slanting 
direction; slant. 
Betwixt the midst and these the gods assigned 
Two habitable seats for human kind, 
And 'cross their limits cut a sloping way, 
Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, i. 328. 
Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to 
rest, 
Did I look on great Orion, sloping slowly to the west. 
Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
2. To run away; decamp; elope; disappear 
suddenly. [Slang.] 
slopet (slop), adv. [< slope, a. Cf . aslope.'} Slant- 
ingly; aslant; aslope; obliquely; not perpen- 
dicularly. 
Uriel to his charge 
Return'd on that bright beam, whose point now raised 
Bore him slope downward to the sun. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 591. 
sloped (slept), a. [Cf. slope, slip 1 .'] Decayed 
with dampness ; rotten : said of potatoes and 
pease. Halliu'ell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Slope-level (slop'lev'el), . Same as batter- 
lei-cl. 
