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slack - 17 dictionary results
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slack

1  [slak]
Use slack in a Sentence
–adjective
1. not tight, taut, firm, or tense; loose: a slack rope.
2. negligent; careless; remiss: slack proofreading.
3. slow, sluggish, or indolent: He is slack in answering letters.
4. not active or busy; dull; not brisk: the slack season in an industry.
5. moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water.
6. weak; lax.
7. Nautical. easy (def. 15a).
–adverb
8. in a slack manner.
–noun
9. a slack condition or part.
10. the part of a rope, sail, or the like, that hangs loose, without strain upon it.
11. a decrease in activity, as in business or work: a sudden slack in output.
12. a period of decreased activity.
13. Geography. a cessation in a strong flow, as of a current at its turn.
14. a depression between hills, in a hillside, or in the land surface.
15. Prosody. (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
16. British Dialect. a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
–verb (used with object)
17. to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); shirk; leave undone: He slacked the most important part.
18. to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often fol. by up).
19. to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often fol. by off or out).
20. to slake (lime).
–verb (used without object)
21. to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
22. to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often fol. by up): Business is slacking up.
23. to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
24. to become slaked, as lime.
—Idiom
25. take up the slack,
a. to pull in or make taut a loose section of a rope, line, wire, etc.: Take up the slack before releasing the kite.
b. to provide or compensate for something that is missing or incomplete: New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME slac (adj.), OE sleac, slæc; c. ON slakr, OHG slach, L laxus lax

Related forms:
slack⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
slackly, adverb
slackness, noun

Synonyms:
1. relaxed. 2. lazy, weak. 3. dilatory, tardy, late. 4. idle, quiet. 11. slowing, relaxation. 17. neglect. 18. reduce, slacken. 21. malinger.

slack

2  [slak]
–noun
the fine screenings of coal.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME sleck < MD slacke, slecke
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To slack
slack 1   (slāk)   
adj.   slack·er, slack·est
  1. Moving slowly; sluggish: a slack pace.
  2. Lacking in activity; not busy: a slack season for the travel business.
  3. Not tense or taut; loose: a slack rope; slack muscles. See Synonyms at loose.
  4. Lacking firmness; flaccid: a slack grip.
  5. Lacking in diligence or due care or concern; negligent: a slack worker. See Synonyms at negligent.
  6. Flowing or blowing with little speed: a slack current; slack winds.
  7. Linguistics Pronounced with the muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed; lax.
v.   slacked, slack·ing, slacks

v.   tr.
  1. To make slower or looser; slacken.
  2. To be careless or remiss in doing: slack one's duty.
  3. To slake (lime).
v.   intr.
  1. To be or become slack.
  2. To evade work; shirk.
n.  
  1. A loose part, as of a rope or sail.
  2. A lack of tension; looseness.
  3. A period of little activity; a lull.
    1. A cessation of movement in a current of air or water.
    2. An area of still water.
  5. Unused capacity: still some slack in the economy.
  6. slacks Casual trousers that are not part of a suit.
adv.  In a slack manner: a banner hanging slack.
Phrasal Verb(s):
slack offTo decrease in activity or intensity.

Idiom(s):
cut/give (someone) some slackSlang To make an allowance for (someone), as in allowing more time to finish something.

[Middle English slak, from Old English slæc; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.]
slack'ly adv., slack'ness n.
slack 2   (slāk)   
n.  A mixture of coal fragments, coal dust, and dirt that remains after screening coal.

[Middle English sleck.]
slack 3   (slāk)   
n.   Chiefly British
  1. A small dell or hollow.
  2. A bog; a morass.

[Middle English slak, from Old Norse slakki.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slack

Slack\, n. [Cf. Slag.] Small coal; also, coal dust; culm. --Raymond.

Slack

Slack\, n. [Icel. slakki a slope on a mountain edge.] A valley, or small, shallow dell. [Prov. Eng.] --Grose.

Slack

Slack\, a. [Compar. Slacker; superl. Slackest.] [OE. slak, AS. sleac; akin to OS. slak, OHG. slah, Prov. G. schlack, Icel. slakr, Sw. slak; cf. Skr. s[.r]j to let loose, to throw. Cf. Slake.] Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a slack rope.

2. Weak; not holding fast; as, a slack hand. --Milton.

3. Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. --2 Pet. iii. 9.

4. Not violent, rapid, or pressing; slow; moderate; easy; as, business is slack. "With slack pace." --Chaucer.

C?sar . . . about sunset, hoisting sail with a slack southwest, at midnight was becalmed. --Milton.

Slack in stays (Naut.), slow in going about, as a ship.

Slack water, the time when the tide runs slowly, or the water is at rest; or the interval between the flux and reflux of the tide.

Slack-water navigation, navigation in a stream the depth of which has been increased, and the current diminished, by a dam or dams.

Syn: Loose; relaxed; weak; remiss; backward; abated; diminished; inactive; slow; tardy; dull.

Slack

Slack\, adv. Slackly; as, slack dried hops.

Slack

Slack\, n. The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.

Slack

Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Slacked, Slackened; p. pr. & vb. n. Slacking, Slackening.] [See Slack, a.]

1. To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather.

2. To be remiss or backward; to be negligent.

3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks.

4. To abate; to become less violent.

Whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. --Milton.

5. To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens.

6. To languish; to fail; to flag.

7. To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. [Obs.]

That through your death your lineage should slack. --Chaucer.

They will not of that firste purpose slack. --Chaucer.

Slack

Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. t. 1. To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage. --Wycklif (Acts xxvii. 40)

2. To neglect; to be remiss in. [Obs.] --Shak.

Slack not the pressage. --Dryden.

3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime.

4. To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry. "Rancor for to slack." --Chaucer.

I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to arms. --Addison.

In this business of growing rich, poor men should slack their pace. --South.

With such delay Well plased, they slack their course. --Milton.

5. To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease.

To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this ill mansion. --Milton.

Air-slacked lime, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : slack
Spanish: flojo,
German: locker,
Japanese: ゆるい
More Translations »

slack

n.
1. Space allocated to a disk file but not actually used to store useful information. The techspeak equivalent is `internal fragmentation'. Antonym: hole.
2. In the theology of the Church of the SubGenius, a mystical substance or quality that is the prerequisite of all human happiness.

Since Unix files are stored compactly, except for the unavoidable wastage in the last block or fragment, it might be said that "Unix has no slack". See ha ha only serious.
Jargon File 4.2.0
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slack  (n.)
"coal dust," c.1440, sleck, probably from M.Du. slacke, M.L.G. slecke "slag, small pieces left after coal is screened," perhaps related to slagge "splinter flying off metal when it is struck" (see slag).

slack  (adj.)
O.E. slæc "loose, careless" (in ref. to personal conduct), from P.Gmc. *slakas (cf. O.S. slak, O.N. slakr, O.H.G. slah "slack," M.Du. lac "fault, lack"), from PIE base *(s)leg- "to be slack" (see lax). Sense of "not tight" (in ref. to things) is first recorded c.1300. The verb is attested from 1520; slacken (v.) first recorded 1580. Slack-key (1975) translates Hawaiian ki ho'alu First record of slack-jawed (1901) is in Kipling. Slack water "time when tide is not flowing" is from 1769. Slacker popularized 1994, though meaning "person who shirks work" dates back to 1898.

slack  (n.)
1794, "loose part or end" (of a rope, sail, etc.), from slack (adj.); hense fig. senses in take up the slack (1930) and slang cut (someone) some slack (1968). Meaning "quiet period, lull" is from 1851. Slacks "loose trousers" first recorded 1824, originally military.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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slack
1. Internal fragmentation. Space allocated to a disk file but not actually used to store useful information.
2. In the theology of the Church of the SubGenius, a mystical substance or quality that is the prerequisite of all human happiness.
Since Unix files are stored compactly, except for the unavoidable wastage in the last block or fragment, it might be said that "Unix has no slack".
See ha ha only serious.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-03-01)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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