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slur - 5 dictionary results

slur

  [slur] verb, slurred, slur⋅ring, noun
Use slur in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to pass over lightly or without due mention or consideration (often fol. by over): The report slurred over her contribution to the enterprise.
2. to pronounce (a syllable, word, etc.) indistinctly by combining, reducing, or omitting sounds, as in hurried or careless utterance.
3. to cast aspersions on; calumniate; disparage; depreciate: The candidate was viciously slurred by his opponent.
4. Music.
a. to sing to a single syllable or play without a break (two or more tones of different pitch).
b. to mark with a slur.
5. Chiefly British Dialect. to smirch, sully, or stain.
–verb (used without object)
6. to read, speak, or sing hurriedly and carelessly.
–noun
7. a slurred utterance or sound.
8. a disparaging remark or a slight: quick to take offense at a slur.
9. a blot or stain, as upon reputation: a slur on his good name.
10. Music.
a. the combination of two or more tones of different pitch, sung to a single syllable or played without a break.
b. a curved mark indicating this.
11. Printing. a spot that is blurred or unclear as a result of paper, plate, or blanket slippage.
Origin:
1595–1605; appar. of multiple orig.; in senses referring to a gliding or smooth transition, cf. LG slurren to shuffle, D sleuren to trail, drag; in senses referring to a smirch or stain, cf. MD slore (D sloor) sluttish woman

Synonyms:
1. slight, disregard, gloss. 3. slander, asperse. 8. innuendo, insult, affront. 9. stigma, disgrace.

Antonyms:
8. compliment.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To slur
slur   (slûr)   
tr.v.   slurred, slur·ring, slurs
  1. To pronounce indistinctly.
  2. To talk about disparagingly or insultingly.
  3. To pass over lightly or carelessly; treat without due consideration.
  4. Music
    1. To glide over (a series of notes) smoothly without a break.
    2. To mark with a slur.
  5. Printing To blur or smear.
n.  
  1. A disparaging remark; an aspersion.
  2. A slurred utterance or sound.
  3. Music
    1. A curved line connecting notes on a score to indicate that they are to be played or sung legato.
    2. A passage played or sung in this manner.
  4. Printing A smeared or blurred impression.

[Probably from Middle English sloor, mud.]
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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Slur

Slur\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slurred; p. pr. & vb. n. Slurring.] [Cf. OE. sloor mud, clay, Icel. sl?ra, slo?ra, to trail or drag one's self along, D. sleuren, sloren, to train, to drag, to do negligently and slovenly, D. sloor, sloerie, a sluttish girl.]

1. To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace. --Cudworth.

2. To disparage; to traduce. --Tennyson.

3. To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.

With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes. --Dryden.

4. To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick. [R.]

To slur men of what they fought for. --Hudibras.

5. To pronounce indistinctly; as, to slur syllables.

6. (Mus.) To sing or perform in a smooth, gliding style; to connect smoothly in performing, as several notes or tones. --Busby.

7. (Print.) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.

Slur

Slur\, n. 1. A mark or stain; hence, a slight reproach or disgrace; a stigma; a reproachful intimation; an innuendo. "Gaining to his name a lasting slur." --South.

2. A trick played upon a person; an imposition. [R.]

3. (Mus.) A mark, thus [[upslur] or [downslur]], connecting notes that are to be sung to the same syllable, or made in one continued breath of a wind instrument, or with one stroke of a bow; a tie; a sign of legato.

4. In knitting machines, a contrivance for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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slur  (n.)
"deliberate slight," 1609, from dialectal slur "thin or fluid mud," from M.E. slore (1440), cognate with M.L.G. sluren, M.Du. sloren "to trail in mud." Related to E.Fris. sluren "to go about carelessly," Norw. slora "to be careless." The musical sense (1746) is from the notion of "sliding."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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