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slake - 5 dictionary results

slake

  [sleyk] verb, slaked, slak⋅ing.
Use slake in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to allay (thirst, desire, wrath, etc.) by satisfying.
2. to cool or refresh: He slaked his lips with ice.
3. to make less active, vigorous, intense, etc.: His calm manner slaked their enthusiasm.
4. to cause disintegration of (lime) by treatment with water. Compare slaked lime.
5. Obsolete. to make loose or less tense; slacken.
–verb (used without object)
6. (of lime) to become slaked.
7. Archaic. to become less active, intense, vigorous, etc.; abate.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME slaken to mitigate, allay, moderate, lessen one's efforts, OE slacian to slacken, lessen one's efforts, equiv. to slæc slack 1 + -ian causative v. suffix

Related forms:
slak⋅a⋅ble, slake⋅a⋅ble, adjective
slakeless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. satisfy, quench, gratify, relieve.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To slake
slake   (slāk)   
v.   slaked, slak·ing, slakes

v.   tr.
  1. To satisfy (a craving); quench: slaked her thirst.
  2. To lessen the force or activity of; moderate: slaking his anger.
  3. To cool or refresh by wetting or moistening.
  4. To combine (lime) chemically with water or moist air.
v.   intr.
To undergo a slaking process; crumble or disintegrate, as lime.

[Middle English slaken, to abate, from Old English slacian, from slæc, slack, sluggish; see slack1.]
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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Slake

Slake\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slaked; p. pr. & vb. n. Slaking.] [OE. slaken to render slack, to slake, AS. sleacian, fr. sleac slack. See Slack, v. & a.]

1. To allay; to quench; to extinguish; as, to slake thirst. "And slake the heavenly fire." --Spenser.

It could not slake mine ire nor ease my heart. --Shak.

2. To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination shall take place; to slack; as, to slake lime.

Slake

Slake\, v. i. 1. To go out; to become extinct. "His flame did slake." --Sir T. Browne.

2. To abate; to become less decided. [R.] --Shak.

3. To slacken; to become relaxed. "When the body's strongest sinews slake." [R.] --Sir J. Davies.

4. To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place; as, the lime slakes.

Slake trough, a trough containing water in which a blacksmith cools a forging or tool.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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slake 
O.E. slacian "slacken an effort," from slæc "lax" (see slack). Sense of "allay" (in ref. to thirst, hunger, desire) first recorded c.1325.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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