S L A 
probatur Utilitatem pro Justitia, in Administratione Rerum 
publicarum colendam.” Gen. Biog. 
SLAB, adj. [A word, probably of the same original 
with slabber , or slaver. See To Slabber. The Teut. 
slabbe is a slabbering-bib.] Thick; viscous; glutinous. 
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips; 
Finger of birth-strangled babe, 
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab; 
Make the gruel thick and slab. Shakspeare. 
SLAB, s. A puddle. Ainsworth. —They must be dili¬ 
gently cleansed from moss, slab , and oose. Evelyn. —A 
plane of stone: as, a marble slab. —The outside plank of a 
piece of timber when sawn into boards. Ray. 
To SLA'BBER, v. a. [Teut. slabben, slabberen. ] To 
sup up hastily.—To slabber pottage up half hot and cold. 
Barret. — To smear with spittle. — He slabbered me all 
over, from cheek to cheek, with his great tongue. Ar~ 
buthnot. —To shed ; to spill. 
The milk-pan and cream-pot so slabber'd and tost. 
That butter is wanting, and cheese is half lost. Tusser. 
To SLA'BBER, v. n. To let the spittle fall from the 
mouth; to drivel.—To shed or pour on any thing. 
SLA'BBERER, s. One who slabbers; an idiot. 
SLA'BBY, adj. Thick; viscous. Not used. —In the 
cure of an ulcer, with a moist intemperies, slabby and greasy 
medicaments are to be forborn, and drying to be used. 
Wiseman. —Wet; floody; in low language. 
When waggish boys the stunted besom ply, 
To rid the slabby pavements, pass not by. Gay. 
SLAB-LINE, in Sea Language, a small cord passing up 
behind a ship’s main-sail or fore-sail, and being reeved through 
a block attached to the lower part of the yard, is then trans¬ 
mitted into two branches to the foot of the sail to which it is 
fastened. 
It is used to truss up the sail as occasion requires, and more 
particularly for the convenience of the pilot or steersman, 
that they may look forward beneath it as the ship advances. 
Falconer. 
SLABTOWN, a village of the United States, in Burling¬ 
ton county, New Jersey ; 7 miles east of Burlington. 
SLACK, adj. [jdeac, Saxon; slak, Su. Goth.; slaken, 
Icelandic; yslack, Welsh; laxus, Lat.] Not tense; not 
hard drawn; loose.—The vein in the arm is that which Are- 
taeus commonly opens ; and he gives a particular caution in 
this case to make a slack compression, for fear-of exciting a 
convulsion. Arbuthnot. —Relaxed; weak; not holding 
fast. 
All his joints relax’d: 
From his slack hand the garland wreath’d for Eve 
Down dropp’d, and all the faded roses shed. Milton. 
Remiss; not diligent; not eager; not fervent. 
Rebellion now began, for lack 
Of zeal and plunder, to grow slack. Hudibras. 
Not violent; not rapid. 
Their pace was formal, grave, slack : 
His nimble wit outran the heavy pack. Dryden. 
Not intense.—A handful of slack dried hops spoil many 
pounds, by taking away their pleasant smell. Mortimer. 
To SLACK, or To Si.a'cken, v. n. [placian, Sax.] To 
be remiss; to neglect.—When thou shalt vow a vow unto the 
Lord, slack not to pay it. Deut. —To lose the power of 
cohesion.-—The fire in lime burnt, lies hid, so that it appears 
to be cold; but water excites it again, whereby it slacks and 
crumbles into fine powder. Moxon. —To abate. 
Whence these raging fires 
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. Milton. 
To languish; to fail; to flag. Ainsworth. — Slacking 
in such care and desire. Necessarii Erudit. of a Chris. 
Man. 
SLA 271 
To SLACK, or To Sla'cken, v. a. To loosen; to make 
less tight. 
Ah ! generous youth, that wish forbear; 
Slack all thy sails, and fear to come. Dryden. 
To relax; to remit. 
Taught power’s due use to people and to kings, 
Taught not to slack nor strain its tender strings. Pope. 
To ease; to mitigate. Philips seems to have used it by 
mistake for slake. 
If there be cure or charm 
To respite or deceive, or slack the pain 
Of this ill mansion Milton. 
To remit for want of eagerness.—With such delay well 
pleas’d, they slack their course. Milton. —To cause to be 
remitted; to make to abate. 
Extol not riches then, the toil of fools, 
The wise man’s cumbrance, if not snare; more apt 
To slacken virtue and abate her edge. 
Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise. Milton. 
To relieve; to unbend. 
Here have I seen the king, when great affairs 
Gave leave to slacken and unbend his cares. 
Attended to the chase by all the flower 
Of youth, whose hopes a nobler prey devour. Denham. 
To withhold; to use less liberally.—He that so generally 
is good, must of necessity hold his virtue to you, whose 
worthiness would stir it up where it wanted rather than slack 
it where there is such abundance. Shakspeare. —To crum¬ 
ble ; to deprive of the power of cohesion.—’Some unslacked 
lime cover with ashes, and let it stand till rain comes to 
slack the lime; then spread them together. Mortimer.— 
To neglect. 
Why might not you, my lord, receive attendance 
From those that she calls servants, or from mine ? 
—If then they chanc’d to slack ye, 
We could control them. Shakspeare. 
To repress; to make less quick or forcible.—I should be 
griev’d, young prince, to think my presence unbent your 
thoughts, and slacken'd ’em to arms. Addison. 
SLACK, s. [This substantive is called slake in the north 
of England.] Small coal; coal broken in small parts : as, 
slacked lime turns to powder. 
SLACK, s. A valley or small shallow dell. Northern. 
SLA'CKLY, adv. [pleachce, Sax.] Loosely; not tightly; 
not closely.—Negligently; remissly. 
That a king’s children should be so convey’d. 
So slackly guarded, and the search so slow 
That couid not trace them. Shakspeare. 
Tardily. Cotgrave, and Sherwood. 
SLA'CKNESS, s. [yleacnepye. Sax.] Looseness; not 
tightness.—Negligence; inattention; remissness. 
These thy offices. 
So rarely kind, are as interpreters 
Of my behind-hand slackness. Shakspeare. 
Tardiness.—When they have no disposition to shoot out 
above their lips, there is a slackness to heal, and a cure is 
very difficultly effected. Sharp. —Weakness; not force; 
not intenseness.—Through the slackness of motion, or long 
banishment from the air, it might gather some aptness to 
putrefy. Brerewood. 
SLACK-WATER, in Sea Language, denotes the interval 
between the flux and reflux of the tide, or betweeen the last 
of the ebb and the first of the flood, during which the cur¬ 
rent is interrupted, and the water apparently remains in a state 
of rest. 
SLADE, s. [jdaeb, Sax. vallis, Somner; via in montium 
convallibus, Lye. But Lye adds the Icel. slaed, a valley.] 
A flat piece of ground lying low and moist; a little den or 
valley. 
The 
