slash·ing

[slash-ing]
noun
1.
a slash.
adjective
2.
sweeping; cutting.
3.
violent; severe: a slashing wind.
4.
dashing; impetuous.
5.
vivid; flashing; brilliant.
6.
Informal. very large or fine; splendid: a slashing fortune.
00:10
Slashing is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

Origin:
1590–1600; slash1 + -ing1, -ing2

slash·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged

slash

1 [slash]
verb (used with object)
1.
to cut with a violent sweeping stroke or by striking violently and at random, as with a knife or sword.
2.
to lash; whip.
3.
to cut, reduce, or alter: The editors slashed the story to half its length.
4.
to make slits in (a garment) to show an underlying fabric.
5.
to criticize, censure, or attack in a savage or cutting manner.
verb (used without object)
6.
to lay about one with sharp, sweeping strokes; make one's way by cutting.
7.
to make a sweeping, cutting stroke.
noun
8.
a sweeping stroke, as with a knife, sword, or pen.
9.
a cut, wound, or mark made with such a stroke.
10.
a curtailment, reduction, or alteration: a drastic slash of prices.
11.
a decorative slit in a garment showing an underlying fabric.
13.
a.
an open area strewn with debris of trees from felling or from wind or fire.
b.
the debris itself.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English slaschen < ?

un·slashed, adjective


3. abridge, abbreviate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To slashing
Collins
World English Dictionary
slash (slæʃ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  to cut or lay about (a person or thing) with sharp sweeping strokes, as with a sword, knife, etc
2.  to lash with a whip
3.  to make large gashes in: to slash tyres
4.  to reduce (prices, etc) drastically
5.  chiefly (US) to criticize harshly
6.  to slit (the outer fabric of a garment) so that the lining material is revealed
7.  to clear (scrub or undergrowth) by cutting
 
n
8.  a sharp, sweeping stroke, as with a sword or whip
9.  a cut or rent made by such a stroke
10.  a decorative slit in a garment revealing the lining material
11.  (US), (Canadian)
 a.  littered wood chips and broken branches that remain after trees have been cut down
 b.  an area so littered
12.  diagonal, forward slash, separatrix, shilling mark, solidus, stroke, Also called: virgule a short oblique stroke used in text to separate items of information, such as days, months, and years in dates (18/7/80), alternative words (and/or), numerator from denominator in fractions (55/103), etc
13.  slang (Brit) the act of urinating (esp in the phrase have a slash)
14.  a genre of erotic fiction written by women, to appeal to women
 
[C14 slaschen, perhaps from Old French esclachier to break]

slashing (ˈslæʃɪŋ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
aggressively or harshly critical (esp in the phrase slashing attack)
 
'slashingly
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

slash
1382, "to cut with a stroke of a blade or whip," perhaps from M.Fr. esclachier "to break," variant of esclater "to break, splinter" (see slat). In ref. to prices, it is attested from 1906. The noun meaning "a cutting stroke with a weapon" is recorded from 1576; sense of "slit
in a garment" is from 1615; that of "open tract in a forest" is first attested 1825, Amer.Eng. As a punctuation mark in writing or printing, it is recorded from 1961. Slash-and-burn method of clearing forest for cultivation is from 1919.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

slash definition


  1. n.
    a drink of liquor. : Just one slash, and I have to be going.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Slashing prices is a sure sign of lack of confidence.
The effect of you helping to argue for slashing manned space programs is not
  that money becomes available for science.
Far from seeing the bottom in corporate profits, markets have been slashing
  forecasts.
Hurricanes bring winds and slashing rains that flood streets, flatten homes,
  and leave survivors struggling to pick up the pieces.
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