f 
SLA 
SLANT, in Commerce, a copper coin of Sweden; 96 
double slants, or 192 single slants pass for 1 specie riksdaler: 
and this, commonly called the Swedish dollar, is worth 4s. 
7sterling. 
SLA'NTLY, or Sla'ntwise, adv. Obliquely; not per- 
pendicularly; a slope. 
Some maketh a hollowness half a foot deep. 
With flower sets in it, set slantwise asleep. Tusser. 
SLAP, s. . [schlap, German.] A blow. Properly with 
the hand open, or with something rather broad than sharp. 
—What defence can be used in such a despicable encounter 
as this, but either the slap or the spurn ? Milton. 
SLAP, adv. With a sudden and violent blow.—Peg’s 
servants complained; and if they offered to come into the 
warehouse, then strait went the yard slap over their noddle. 
Arbuthnot. 
To SLAP, v. a. To strike with a slap. 
Dick, who thus long had passive sat, 
Here strok’d his chin, and cock’d his hat; 
Then slapp'd his hand upon the board. 
And thus the youth put in his word. Prior. 
SLA'PDASH. interj. All at once: as any thing broad 
falls with a slap into the water, and dashes it about. A low 
wqrd. 
And yet, slapdash, is all again 
In every sinew, nerve, and vein. Prior. 
SLAPE, adj. Slippery; and also smooth. Applied to 
ale in Lincolnshire, and the North of England. See Skinner, 
Rap and Grose. 
SLAPSTON, a parish of England, in Northamptonshire; 
3j miles west-south-west of Towcester. 
SLAPTON, a parish of England, in Buckinghamshire, 
on the Grand Junction canal; 3 miles north by west of 
Ivinghoe. 
SLAPTON, a parish of England, in Devonshire; 5 \ miles 
south-west of Dartmouth. 
To SLASH, v. a. \_slasa, to strike, Icelandic.] To 
cut; to cut with long cuts.— Slashing and pinking their skin 
and faces. Sir T. Herbert. —The long pocket, slashed 
sleeve. Guardian. —To lash. Slash is improper. 
Daniel, a sprightly swain, that us’d to slash 
The vigorous steeds that drew his lord’s calash. King. 
To cause to make a sharp sound.—She slash'd a whip 
which she had in her hand; the cracks thereof were loud 
and dreadful. More. 
To SLASH, v. n. To strike at random with a sword; 
to lay about him. 
The knights with their bright burning blades 
Broke their rude troops, and orders did confound, 
Hewing and slashing at their idle shades. Spenser. 
Not that I’d lop the beauties from his book. 
Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook. Pope. 
SLASH, s. Cut; wound.—-Some few received some cuts 
and slashes that had drawn blood. Clarendon. —A cut in 
cloth. 
What! this a sleeve ? 
Here’s snip and nip, and cut, and slish and slash. 
Like to a censor in a barber’s shop. Shakspeare. 
To SLAT. See To Slatter. 
SLATCH, s. [A sea term.] The middle part of a rope 
or cable that hangs down loose. Bailey. —A transitory 
breeze of wind; an interval of fair weather: a sea term. 
At certain times in the winter season, they take their 
slatches of flood and ebb according to their occasions, 
the effects of the tide being manifest quite cross the 
Streight; and ships ordinarily seen becalmed, &c. Sir 
H- Shere. 
SLATE, s. [from slit: slate is in some counties a crack; 
or from esclate, a tile, French.] A grey stone, easily broken 
into thin plates, which are used to cover houses, or to write 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1569. 
SLA 273 
upon.—A square cannot be so truly drawn upon a slate, as 
it is conceived in the mind. Grew. 
To SLATE, v. a. To cover the roof; to tile. 
Sonnets and elegies to Chloris, 
Would raise a house about two stories, 
A lyric ode would slate. • Swift• 
To SLATE, or To Slete, v. n. [perhaps from idaetinge. 
Sax. vestigia ferarum.] To set a dog loose at any thing, as 
sheep, swine, &c. A northern vford. Ray gives it in the 
form of slete, Grose of slate. 
SLATE MOUNT, a mountain of the United States, in 
Virginia; 6 miles west of Richmond. Lat. 37. 35. N. long. 
72. W. 
SLATE, Point of, the southern extremity of the island 
of Skye. Lat. 57. 1. N. long. 6. W. 
SLATE RIVER, a river of the United States, in Virginia, 
which runs into James river. Lat. 37. 40. N. long. 78. 
54. W. 
SLA'TER, s. One who covers with slates or tiles. 
SLATOPOL, a small town of European Russia, in the 
government of Cherson, inhabited chiefly by Jew traders. 
SLATTE'E, an African appellation of free black merch¬ 
ants, often traders in slaves. 
To SLA'TTER, v. n. [Icel. and O. Sueth. slacde, vir 
habitu et moribus indecorus; en s/addra, incompta. Sere- 
nius.] To be slovenly and dirty.—A dirty, slattering wo¬ 
man. Ray. —To be careless or awkward; to spill care¬ 
lessly : a northern word, and sometimes spoken slat. 
SLATTERN, s. A woman negligent, not elegant or 
nice. 
Without the raising of which sum, 
You dare not be so troublesome 
To pinch the slatterns black and blue. 
For leaving you their work to do. Hudibras. 
To SLATTERN, v. a. To consume carelessly or neg¬ 
ligently.—All that I desire is, that you will never slattern 
away one minute in idleness. Ld. Chesterfield. 
SLATTERNLY, adj. Not clean ; slovenly.—A very 
slatternly, dirty, but at the same time very genteel French 
maid is appropriated to the use of my daughter. Ld.Ches¬ 
terfield.' 
SLATTERNLY, adv. Awkwardly; negligently.—A 
fine suit ill made, and slatternly or stiffly worn, far from 
adorning, only exposes the awkwardness of the wearer. 
Ld. Chesterfield. 
SLATY, adv. Having the nature of slate.—All the stone 
that is slaty, with a texture long, and parallel to the site of 
the stratum, will split only lengthways, or horizontally; and, 
if placed in any other position, ’tis apt to give way, start, 
and burst, when any considerable weight is laid upon it. 
Woodward. 
SLAVE, s. [ esclave, French.] One mancipated to a 
master; not a freeman ; a dependant. 
The banish’d Kent, who in disguise 
Follow’d his enemy king, and did him service, 
Improper for a slave. Shakspeare. 
One that has lost the power of resistance.— When once men 
are immersed in sensual things, and are become slaves to 
their passions and lusts, then are they most disposed to doubt 
of the existence of God. Wilkins. —It is used proverbially 
for the lowest state of life.—Power shall not exempt the kings 
of the earth, and the great men, neither shall meanness ex¬ 
cuse the poorest slave. Nelson. 
To SLAVE, v. a. To enslave.—Fear,—a disease of a 
life long, which every day slaves a man to whatever ill he 
meets with. Feltham. 
To SLAVE, v. n. To drudge; to moil; to toil. 
Had women been the makers of our laws. 
The men should slave at cards from morn to night. Swift. 
The Romans called their slaves, servi, from servare, to 
keep, or save; as being such as were not killed, but saved 
to yield money, either by sale, or by their work. Though, 
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