sluggard 
5707 
Dauntless the uluijhorii to ray lips I set, 
And blew "rhilile Uoland to the Dark Tower came." 
'Tis the voice of the Sluggard; I heard him complain, 
"You have wak'd me too soon ; I must slumber again." 
Watts, Moral Songs, i. 
II. . Sluggish; lazy; characteristic of a 
sluggard. 
The more to blame my sluggard negligence. 
Shale., Lucrece, 1. 1278. 
[< slugl 
Slug. 
I. n. A person habitually lazy, idle, and slow ; 
a drone. 
Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. 
Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be 
wise. Prov. vi. 6. SlUglyt (slug'li), adc. 
gishly. 
(od giue vs grace, the weyes for to keepe 
Of his precepts, and slugly not to sleepe 
In shame of sinne. Uakluyt's Voyages, I. 207. 
slug-shaped (shig'shapt), o. Limaciform: spe- 
cifically noting the larvae of various butterflies 
which in some respects resemble slugs. E. New- 
mini. 
of. 
sluggardize (slug'ar-diz), v. t.\ pret. and pp. 
sluggardieed, jijir. SmggmnMng. [< sluggard + slug-snail (slug'snal), M. A slug ; also, loosely, 
-ize.] To make idle or lazy; make a sluggard any snail of the family Helicidee. 
slug-worm (slug'werm), n. One of the slimy 
slug-like larvse of the saw-flies of the genus 
Selandria and allied genera; specifically, the 
larva of S. cerasi. W. D. Peck, Nat. Hist, of 
Slug-worm (Boston, 1799). 
Sluice (slos), n. [Early mod. E. slucc, sluse, 
' >. > 
[Rare.] 
I rather would entreat thy company 
To see the wonders of the world abroad 
Than, living dully sluggardized at home. 
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. 
S/Mk.,T. G. of V..L1. 7. 
sluggardyt (slug'ar-di), n. [< ME. "shiggardie, 
sloggardye, slogardye; as sluggard + -y$.] The 
state of a sluggard; sloth. 
Constant in herte, and evere in bisynesse, 
To dryve hire out of ydel slogardye. 
Chaucer, Physician's Tale, 1. 57. 
Arise ! for shame, do away your sluggardy. 
Wyalt, The Lover Unhappy, 
sluggedt, a. Same as sluggish. 
sluggednesst (slug'ed-ne's), n. [ME. ulugged- 
nes; < slugged + -ness.'] Sluggarduess; sloth. 
Wyse laboureand myshappe seldom mete to-gyder, but 
yet slugyednes [read slugyedness] and myshappe be seledom 
dyssevyrde. Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 32. 
slugger (slug'er), n. One who hits hard with 
the fists; a pugilist. [U. S.] 
slugging (slug'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slug 3 , r.] 
Hard hitting with the fists, in fighting. [U. S.] 
They [the muscles] have their own esthetics: hence 
there have always been athletic sports, and hence even 
pugilism would have no charm if it were mere slugging. 
Science, IV. 473. 
slugging-match (slug'iug-mach), n. A pugi- 
listic contest in which the contestants slug 
each other ; an unskilful, brutal fight. [U. S.] 
sluggish (slug'ish), a. [< slugi + -tiki.] i. 
Slow ; having or giving evidence of little mo- 
tion : as, a sluggish stream. 
A Voyage which proved very tedious and hazardous to 
us, by reason of our ships being so sluggish a Sailer that 
She would not ply to Wind-ward. 
Dampier, Voyages, II. ii. 18. 
The sluggish murmur of the river Somme. 
Scott, Quentin Durward, xxviii. 
2. Idle and lazy, habitually or temporarily ; in- 
dolent; slothful; dull; inactive. 
Move faster, sluggish camel. 
Massinger, The Bashful Lover, i. 1. 
To us his temperament seems sluggish, and is only 
kindled into energy by the most fiery stimulants. 
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 135. 
3. Inert; inactive; torpid. 
Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no 
power to stir or move itself. Woodward. 
4. Dull; tame; stupid. 
Incredible it may seem so sluggish a conceit should 
prove so ancient as to be authoriz'd by the Elder Ninnius. 
Milton, Hist. Eng.,i. 
= Syn. 2. Laztj, Slothful, etc. (see idle); slack, supine, 
phlegmatic, apathetic. 
sluggishly (slug'ish-li), adv. In a sluggish man- 
ner; torpidly; lazily; drowsily; idly; slowly, 
sluggishness (slug'ish-nes), n. The state or 
character of being sluggish, in any sense of that 
word. 
Sluggy (slug'i), a. [Also sloggy ; < ME. sluggy, 
slogff!/; (slug!- + -yl.] Sluggish. [Obsolete or 
provincial.] 
Thanne cometh sompnolence, that is sloggy slombrynge, 
which maketh a man be hevy and dul in body and in soule. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
Lean him on his elbowe, as if sleepe had caught him, 
Which claimes most interest in such sluggy men. 
Tourneur, Revenger's Tragedy, iv. 2. 
slug-horn 1 (slug'horn), H. [< slug* + horn.] 
A short and ill-formed horn of an animal of 
the ox kind, turned downward, and appearing 
to have been stunted in its growth. Hattiwell. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
slughorn 2 (slug'h6rn), n. [A corruption of 
slogan, perhaps simulating slug-horn^.] Same 
MLG. sluse, LG. sluis (> G. schleitse) = Dan. 
sluse = Sw. sluss, < OF. escluse, F. ecluse = Sp. 
esclusa, < ML. exclusa (also, after Rom., sclusa), 
a sluice, flood-gate, prop. adj. (sc. aqua, water 
shut off), fern, of exclusus, shut off, pp. of exclu- 
dere, shut off: see exclude. Cf. close 1 , recluse, 
secluse.] 1. A body of water held in check by 
a flood-gate ; a stream of water issuing through 
a flood-gate. 2. A gate or other contrivance 
by which the flow of water in a waterway is con- 
trolled; a flood-gate; also, an artificial passage 
or channel into which water is allowed to enter 
by such a gate ; a sluiceway ; hence, any artifi- 
cial channel for running water: as, a raill-sluice. 
Sluices are extensively used in hydraulic works, and ex- 
hibit great variety in their construction, according to the 
purposes which they are intended to serve. Often used 
figuratively. 
A foure square C'isterne of eighteene cubitsdepth, where- 
in to the water of Nilus is conuaied by a certaine since vnder 
the ground. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 563. 
Two other precious drops, that ready stood, 
Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell 
Kiss'd. Milton, P. L., v. 133. 
The foaming tide rushing through the mill sluice at his 
wheel. w. M. Baiter, New Timothy, p. 80. 
3. In mining, a trough made of boards, used 
from 
Its bottom is lined with riffles, and 
these, with the help of quicksilver, arrest and detain the 
particles of gold as they are borne along by the current of 
water. The sluice may be of any width or length corre- 
sponding with the amount of material to be handled ; -but 
the supply of water must be sufficiently abundant, and 
the topographic conditions favorable, especially as re- 
gards the disposal of the tailings. 
The sluice is a contrivance by which an almost unlim- 
ited amount of material may be washed ; it is only neces- 
sary to enlarge its size, and increase its length, giving it 
at the same time a proportionate grade. 
J. D. Whitney, Auriferous Gravels, p. 61. 
4. In steam-engines, the injection-valve by 
which the water of condensation is introduced 
into the condenser. 5. A tubulure or pipe 
through which water is directed at will. E. H. 
Knight Falling sluice, a kind of flood-gate for mill- 
dams, rivers, canals, etc., which is self-acting, or so con- 
trived as to fall down of itself in the event of a flood, there- 
by enlarging the waterway. Ground-sluice, in mining, 
a channel or gutter formed by water aided by the pick and 
shovel in the detritus on the surface of the bed-rock, which 
answers temporarily the place of a sluice, or which is used 
, - ame , 
as sloaan ("In the ummuTanH tln'rrl r,,,to+r^ when water cannot be got for a sufficient length of time 
e second ana third quotations to make it worth while to build a wooden sluice 
used erroneously, as if meaning some kind of gluice (8l8g)f . fc; pret . and pp . g||lfefld> ppr 
xli/ icing. [Early mod. E. also since; < sluice, 
~ 
The deaucht trumpet blawis the brag of were ; 
The slugharne, ensenie, or the wache cry 
Went for the battall all suld be reddy. 
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p. 230. 
Some caught a slughoriie and an onsett wounde. 
Chatterton, Battle of Hastings, ii. 10. 
.] 1. To open a flood-gate or sluice upon; 
let a copious flow of water on or in : as, to sluice 
a meadow. 2. To draw out or off, as water, 
by a sluice : as, to sluice the water into the 
corn-fields or to a mill. 
slumber 
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, 
That underneath had veins of liquid fire 
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude 
With wondrous art founded the massy ore, 
Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross. 
Milton, P. L., i. 702. 
A broad canal 
From the main river sluiced. 
Tennyson, Arabian Nights. 
3. To wet or lave abundantly. 
He dried his neck and face, which he had been sluicing 
with cold water. De Quincey. 
The great seas came flying over the bows, sluicing the 
decks with a mimic ocean. 
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, I. 4. 
4. To scour out or cleanse by means of sluices : 
as, to sluice a harbor. 5. To let out as by a 
sluice; cause to gush out. 
Twas I sluc't out his life bloode. 
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II., v. 6. 
sluice-fork (slos'fork), re. A form of fork hav- 
ing many tines, used to remove obstructions 
from a sluiceway. 
sluice-gate (slos"'gat), re. The gate of a sluice ; 
a water-gate ; a flood-gate ; a sluice. 
sluice-valve (slos' valv), w. 1. A sliding gate 
which controls the opening in a sluiceway. 
2. A slide at the outlet of a main or discharge- 
pipe, serving to regulate the flow. 
sluiceway (slos'wa), n. An artificial passage 
or channel into which water is let by a sluice ; 
hence, any small artificial channel for running 
water. 
sluicing (slo'sing), w. [< sluice + -ing*.] The 
material of a sluice or sluiceway. [Rare.] 
Decayed driftwood, trunks of trees, fragments of broken 
sluicing, . . . swept into sight a moment, and were gone. 
Bret Harte, Argonauts, Mrs. Skagg's Husbands. 
sluicy (slo'si), a. [< sluice + -yl.] 1. Falling 
in streams, as from a sluice. 
And oft whole sheets descend of sluicy rain. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, i. 437. 
Incessant cataracts the thund'rer pours, 
And half the skies descend in sluicy show'rs. 
Pope, Iliad, xii. 23. 
2. Wet, as if sluiced. [Rare.] 
She dabbles on the cool and sluicy sands. 
Keats, Endymion, i. 
sluke (slok), n. Same as sloke, and laver%, 1. 
slum 1 (slum), n. [Cf. slumpi, sloam, slawm.] In 
metal., same as slime, 3 : chiefly in the plural. 
[Pacific coast.] 
The slums, light gravel, etc., passing off through the 
waste flume at every upward motion. 
Set. Amer., N. S., LXII. 341. 
Slum 2 (slum), n. [Cf. slum*.] A dirty back 
street of a city, especially such a street inhab- 
ited by a squalid and criminal population ; a 
low and dangerous neighborhood: chiefly in the 
plural : as, the shims of Whitechapel and West- 
minster in London. 
Close under the Abbey of Westminster there lie conceal- 
ed labyrinths of lanes and courts and alleys and slums. 
Cardinal Wiseman. 
Gone is the Rookery, a conglomeration of slums and al- 
leys in the heart of St. Giles's. 
E. H. Yates, Fifty Years of London Life, I. ii. 
slum 2 (slum), v. i. ; pret. and pp. shimmed, ppr. 
slumming. [< slum*, TO.] 1. To keep to back 
streets. Leland. 2. To visit the slums of a 
city, often from mere curiosity or as a diver- 
sion. [Recent.] 
slumber (slum'ber), v. [Early mod. E. also 
slombre; < ME. slumberen, slombren (with ex- 
crescent b developed between m and r, as in 
number, etc.), earlier slumeren, slomeren, = D. 
sluimeren = MLG. slummeren = MHG. slum- 
mem, G. schlummern = Sw. slumra = Dan. 
shimre, slumber; freq. of ME. slumen (E. dial. 
sloum, sloom) = D. sluimen = MLG. slomen, slom- 
men = MHG. slumen, slummen, slumber; cf. ME. 
slume, sloumbe (E. dial, sloum, sloom), < AS. slu- 
ma, slumber; prob. akin to Goth, slawan, be 
silent, MHG. slur, lounge, idle, G. shire, shine, 
slumber.] I. intrans. 1. To grow sleepy or 
drowsy; begin to sleep; fall asleep; also, to 
sleep lightly; doze. 
And as I lay and lened and loked in the wateres, 
I slombred in a slepyng. it sweyued so merye. 
Piers Plowman (B), Pro!., 1. 10. 
Or, if you do but dumber. 111 appear 
In the shape of all my wrongs, and, like a Fury, 
Fright you to madness. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 1. 
COT*. Does he sleep well? 
Mas. No wink, sir, all this night, 
Nor yesterday ; but slumbers. 
B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1. 
My slumbers if I slumber are not sleep, 
But a continuance of enduring thought. 
Byron, Manfred, i. 1. 
