slotter 
slottet 2 (slot'er), ii. Same as elotting-maehine. 
The Em/inn r. 
slotteryt (slot't-r-i), a. [< slotted + -y 1 .] 1. 
Squalid; dirty; sluttish; untrimmed. ///;. 
Diet. 2. Foul ; wet. Imp. Hid. 
slotting (slot'ing), ii. [Verbal n. of slot 2 , r.] 
1. The operation of making slots. 2. In <;/- 
mining, coal cut away in the process of holing 
or slotting. [Yoikshire, Eng.] 
slotting-auger(slot'ing-a"ger), 11, See auyrr. 1. 
slotting-machine (slot'ing-ma-shen"^, u. In 
metal-working, a power-machine for cuttingslots 
in metal. One type of machine resembles a planer, the 
cutting-tool having a vertical motion, with slow stroke 
and quick return. The work, placet] on the table, is fed 
to the machine. Another type, called a dot-drilling ma- 
chine, forms elongated holes by drilling. There is also a 
slotting-machitie for making mortises in wood, which is 
also called a slot-boring machine. 
slouch (slouch), c. [An assibilated form of early 
mod. E. "slouke or *sloke (cf. slouch, .); re- 
lated to E. dial, slock, loose, Icel. slokr, a slouch- 
ing fellow ; from the verb represented by Sw. 
Norw. sloka, droop, LG. freq. slukkern, be slack 
or loose (cf. Sw. slokorig, having drooping ears, 
slokig, hanging, slouching. Dan. slukoret, crest- 
fallen, lit. having drooping ears, LG. slukk, mel- 
ancholy); ult. a variant of slug: see slug*. As 
a mainly dial, word, slouch in its various uses is 
scantly recorded in early writings.] I. intrants. 
1. To droop; hang down loosely. 
Even the old hat looked smarter ; . . . instead of slouch- 
ing backward or forward on the Laird's head, as it hap- 
pened to be thrown un, it was adjusted with a knowing 
inclination over one eye. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xliii. 
2. To have a clownish or loose ungainly gait, 
manner, or attitude; walk, sit, or pose in an 
awkward or loutish way. 
In a few minutes his ... figure was seen slouching up 
the ascent. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 874. 
II. trans. To depress; cause to hang down. 
A young fellow, with a sailor's cap slouched over his face, 
sprung on the scaffold, and cut the rope by which the 
criminal was suspended. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, iii. 
Slouch (slouch), H. [Early mod. E. also slowch ; 
earlier, without assibilation, slotike, "slake, < 
Icel. slokr, a slouching fellow; from the verb.] 
1. An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow; an 
ungainly clown. 
A Slouke, liters, ertis, ignarus. 
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. 8.), col. 217. 
Slowch, a lazy lubber, who has nothing tight about him, 
with his stockings about his heels, his clothes unbuttou'd, 
and his hat flapping about his ears. 
MS. Gloss. (HaUiicell.) 
I think the idle slouch 
Be fallen asleep in the barn, he stays so long. 
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 5. 
2. A drooping or depression of the head or of 
some other part of the body ; a stoop ; an un- 
gainly, clownish gait. 
Our doctor has every quality which can make a man use- 
ful ; but, alas ! he hath a sort of slouch in his walk. Swift. 
He stands erect ; his slouch becomes a walk ; 
He steps right onward, martial in his air. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 639. 
3. A depression or hanging down ; a droop : as, 
his hat had a slouch over hiseyes. 4. A slouch- 
hat. [Colloq.] 5. An inefficient or useless 
person or thing: usually with a negative, in 
praise : as, he 's no slouch ; it 's no slouch, I tell 
you. [Slang.] 
Slouch-hat (slouch'hat), . A hat of soft ma- 
terial, especially one with a broad and flexible 
brim. 
Middle-aged men in slouch hats lounge around with 
hungry eyes. Harper's Mag. , LXXIX. 38. 
slouchily (slou'chi-li), adv. In a slouching 
manner. 
slouchiness (slou'chi-nes), 11. The character 
or appearance of being slouchy ; a slouchy at- 
titude or posture. 
slouching (slou'ching),p. a. 1. Hanging down ; 
drooping. 
He had a long, strong, uncouth body ; rather rough- 
hewn slouching features. Westminster Rev., CXXV. 85. 
2. Awkward, heavy, and dragging, as in car- 
riage or gait. 
The awkward, negligent, clumsy, and slouching manner 
of a booby. Chesterfield. 
The shepherd with a slow and slouching walk, timed by 
the walk of grazing beasts, moved aside, as if unwillingly. 
George Eliot, Felix Holt, Int. 
Slouchy (slou'chi), a. [< slouch + -yi.] In- 
clined to slouch ; somewhat slouching. 
They looked slouchy, listless, torpid an ill-conditioned 
crew. 0. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 68. 
Looking like a slouchy country bumpkin. 
The Century, XXV. 176. 
6704 
slough 1 (slou), n. [In the second sense spelled 
K!I/<; Klcic, sloo; < ME. sl<nii//i. xlmjli, slo, slow, 
sloh. < AS. sloh, slog, a slough; prob. of Celtic- 
origin: < Ir. sloe, a pit, hollow, pitfall (cf. shig- 
pholl, a whirlpool), = Gael, slot; n pit, den, 
grave, pool, gutter (cf. slitguiil, a slough, or deep 
miry place, sltigan, a whirlpool, gulf), < Ir. slu- 
giiim, I swallow, Gael, slttig, swallow, absorb, 
devour; cf. W. llnirg, a gulp, < llaiceio, gulp, 
gorge. These forms are prob. akin to LG. xlti- 
ken = OHG. "sluccnon, MHG. slnii:cii, xlnrhfii, 
swallow, sob, hiccup, G. schlucken, swallow, 
= Sw. sluka = Dan. sluge, swallow; cf. Dan. 
sluge, throat, gullet, a ravine, = Xorw. sink, the 
throat, gullet, = MHG. sluch, the throat, a pit; 
ME. sloffyiige, devouring; cf. Gr. Zifyiv, f.v-yya- 
veiv, hiccup, sob.] 1. A hole full of deep mud 
or mire ; a quagmire of considerable depth and 
comparatively small extent of surface. 
Bote yf the sed that sowen is in the sloh sterue, 
Shal neuere spir springen vp. 
Piers Plowman ((.'), xiii. 179. 
So soon as I came beyond Eton, they threw me off from 
behind one of them, in a slough of mire. 
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 5. 89. 
This miry slough is such a place as cannot be mended ; 
it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends 
conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore it 
is called the Slough of Despond. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i. 
To the centre of its pulpy gorge the greedy slough was 
heaving, and sullenly grinding its weltering jaws among 
the flags and the sedges. 
R. D. Blachinore, Lorna Doone, Ixxv. 
2 (sl6). A marshy hollow ; a reedy pond ; also, 
a long shallow ravine, or open creek, which be- 
comes partly or wholly dry in summer. [West- 
ern U. S.] 
The prairie round about Is wet, at times almost marshy, 
especially at the borders of the great reedy slews. These 
pools and slews are favorite breeding-places for water-fowl. 
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 54. 
= Syn. Swamp, etc. See marsh. 
slough 2 (sluf), M. [Sc. sloch; < ME. sloiih, slow, 
sliighe, slohe, slouge (also, later, sloagth), skin 
of a snake ; cf. Sw. dial, slug = Norw. slo = 
MHG. ttlueh, a skin, sunk. -skin. G. schlanch, a 
skin, bag; appar. connected with LG. sluken = 
OHG. "slucchon, MHG. slucken, G. schlucken = 
Sw. sluka = Dan. sluge, swallow: see slough 1 . 
These words are connected by some with Sw. 
dial, slut', a covering, = LG. slu, sluice, a husk, 
covering, the pod of a bean or pea, husk of a nut. 
= MD. sloove, a veil, a skin, slooven, cover one's 
head, = G. dial, schlaube, a shell, husk, slough, 
akin to E. sleeve : see sleere 1 .'] 1. The skin of 
a serpent, usually the cast skin; also, any part 
of an animal that is naturally shed or molted ; 
a cast; an exuvium. 
The snake roll'd in a flowering bank, 
With shining checker'd slough. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 229. 
2. Inpathol., a dead part of tissue which sepa- 
rates from the surrounding living tissue, and 
is cast off in the act of sloughing. 
The basest of mankind, 
From scalp to sole one slough and crust of sin. 
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites. 
3. A husk. [Prov. Eng.] 
The skin or slough of fruit. 
Liddell and Scott's Oreek-English Lexicon (under (<>ta). 
slough 2 (sluf), r. [< slough?, n.] I. intrans. 1. 
To come off as a slough : often with off. (a) To 
be shed, cast, molted, or exuviated, as the skin of a snake, 
(ft) To separate from the sound flesh : come off as a slough, 
or detached mass of necrosed tissue. 
A limited traumatic gangrene is to be treated as an or- 
dinary sloughing wound. Quain, Med. Diet., p. 629. 
2. To cast off a slough. 
This Gardiner turn'd his coat in Henry's time; 
The serpent that hath slough'd will slough again. 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iii. 3. 
Sloughing phagedena. Same as hospital gangrene 
(which see, under gangrene). 
H. trans. To cast off as a slough ; in pathol., 
to throw off, as a dead mass from an ulcer or a 
wound. 
Like a serpent, we slough the worn-out skin. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 152. 
slough s t, A Middle English variant of slow 1 . 
sloughing (sluf 'ing), . [Verbal n. of slough?, 
'.] 1. The act or process of casting or shed- 
ding the skin, shell, hair, feathers, and the like; 
a molt; ecdysis. 2. The act or process of sep- 
aration of dead from living tissue. 
sloughy 1 (slou'i), a. [< sloughl + -i/ 1 .] Full 
of sloughs ; miry. 
Low ground, . . . and slouyhy underneath. 
Surtft, Urapier's Letters, vii. 
slovenness 
sloughy' 2 (sluf i),n. [< sliiut/ii? + .yi.] Of the 
nature of or resembling a slough, or the dead 
matter which separates from living tissue. 
sloutht, ii. An obsolete spelling of slot hi. 
Slovak (slo-vak'), n. and n. [= G. Slowuk ; < 
Slovak (Bohem.) Stoxak; connected with film; 
Slavonic, Slovenian.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to 
the Slovak*. 
II. n. 1. A member of a Slavic race dwell- 
ing chiefly in northern Hungary and the adjoin- 
ing part of Moravia. 2. The language of this 
race : a dialect of Czechish. 
Slovakian (slo-vak'i-an), . [< Slorak + -iau.] 
Pertaining to the Slovaks or to their language. 
Slovakish (slo-vak'ish), a. and n. [= G. Slo- 
<i-ii/,-isch ; as Slovak + -is/i 1 .] I. a. Same as 
Slovakian. 
II. u. Same as Slovak, 2. 
sloven 1 (sluv'n), n. [Early mod. E. sloven, slovyn, 
sloreyne; < MD. slof, sloef, a careless man, a 
sloven ; cf . sloeven, play the sloven, slof, neg- 
lect, slof, an old slipper, sloffen, draggle with 
slippers; LG. sluf, slovenly, sluffen, sluffeni, 
be careless, sluffen, go about in slippers; G. 
sclilumpe, a slut, slattern, schlumpen, draggle, 
akin to LG. slupen = G. schliipfen, slip: see sli/i J . 
Cf. Ir. Gael, slajiach, slovenly, slopag, a slut.] 
1. A person who is careless of dress or negligent 
of cleanliness ; a person who is habitually negli- 
gent of neatness and order; also, a careless and 
lazy pel-son. Sloven is given in the older grammars as 
the masculine correlative of slut; but the words have no 
connection, and the relation, such as it is, is accidental. 
Slut, as now used, is much stronger and more offensive. 
A slouen, sordid us. 
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. S.), p. 61. 
They answer that by Jerome nothing can be gathered 
but only that the ministers came to church in handsome 
holiday apparel, and that himself did not think them bound 
by the law of God to go like slovens. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 29. 
That negligent sloven 
Had shut out the Pasty on shutting his oven. 
Ooldsmith, Haunch of Venison. 
2f. A knave ; a rascal. 
From thens nowe .xxiiij. mylefs] lyeth the great towne 
Mi-li; n .d;i. and they be f mules, and there be many slou- 
eynes and fell people out of Geneen. 
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. xxvlii.). 
Sloven 2 , n. Same as Slovene. 
Slovene (slo-ven'), M. [<WL.Slovenus,Sclavenus 
= MGr. ^KAafiin>6f, Sid.avtn>6<; = OBulg. Slovieninu 
= Russ. Slaryaninu, Slav: see Slav, Slavonic.'] 
A member of a Slavic race chiefly resident in 
Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and parts of the 
Maritime Territory and Hungary. 
The Slovenes must banish from their vocabulary such 
words as farba (farbe). Encyc. Brit., XXII. 150. 
Slovenian (slo-ve'ni-an), a. and n. [< Slovene 
+ -fan.] I. a. Pertaining to the Slovenes, or 
to their language. 
II. n. 1. A Slovene. 2. The language of 
the Slovenes: a Slavic tongue, most nearly 
allied to the languages of the Serbo-Croatian 
group. 
Slovenish (slo-ve'nish), a. and n. [< Slovene + 
-isA 1 .] Same ias Slovenian. 
slovenliness (sluv'n-li-nes), . The state or 
character of being slovenly; negligence of 
dress; habitual want of cleanliness; neglect 
of order and neatness; also, negligence or 
carelessness generally. 
Whether the multitudes of sects, and professed sloven- 
linesse in God's service, (in too many) have not been guilty 
of the increase of profanenesse amongst us. 
Bp. Hall, The Remonstrants' Defence. 
Those southern landscapes which seem divided between 
natural grandeur and social slovenliness. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xviii. 
slovenly (sluv'n-li), a. [< sloven! + -fy 1 .] 1. 
Having the habits of a sloven; negligent of 
dress or neatness ; lazy ; negligent : of persons : 
as, a slovenly man. 
last found out a slovenly, lazy fellow, lolling at 
his ease, as if he had nothing to do. 'Sir R. L' Estrange. 
2. Wanting neatness or tidiness; loose; neg- 
ligent; careless: of things: as, a slovenly dress. 
His [Wyclif's] style is everywhere coarse and slovenly. 
Craik, Hist Eng. Lit., L 866. 
= 8yn. Untidy, dowdy, heedless, careless. 
slovenly (sluv'n-h), adv. [< slovenly, a.] In a 
slovenly manner; negligently; carelessly. 
As I hang my clothes on somewhat slovenly, I no sooner 
went in but he frowned upon me. Pope. (Johnson.) 
slovennesst (sluv'n-nes), . Same as slovenli- 
ness. [Rare.] 
Happy Dunstan himself, if guilty of no greater fault, 
which could be no sin (nor properly a slovennesse) in an 
infant. Fuller, ch. Hist., II. v. 43. (Danes.) 
