slab

1
[ slab ]
See synonyms for slab on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a broad, flat, somewhat thick piece of stone, wood, or other solid material.

  2. a thick slice of anything: a slab of bread.

  1. a semifinished piece of iron or steel so rolled that its breadth is at least twice its thickness.

  2. a rough outside piece cut from a log, as when sawing one into boards.

  3. Baseball Slang. rubber1 (def. 14).

  4. Building Trades. a section of concrete pavement or a concrete floor placed directly on the ground or on a base of gravel.

verb (used with object),slabbed, slab·bing.
  1. to make into a slab or slabs.

  2. to cover or lay with slabs.

  1. to cut the slabs or outside pieces from (a log).

  2. to put on in slabs; cover thickly.

Origin of slab

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun slab(be), sclabbe; further origin unknown

Words Nearby slab

Other definitions for slab (2 of 2)

slab2
[ slab ]

adjectiveScot. and North England.
  1. thick; viscous.

Origin of slab

2
First recorded in 1595–1605; apparently from Scandinavian; compare Swedish, Norwegian slabb “mire,” Danish slab “mud,” Icelandic slabba “to wade in mud”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use slab in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for slab

slab

/ (slæb) /


noun
  1. a broad flat thick piece of wood, stone, or other material

  2. a thick slice of cake, etc

  1. any of the outside parts of a log that are sawn off while the log is being made into planks

  2. mountaineering a flat sheet of rock lying at an angle of between 30° and 60° from the horizontal

  3. a printer's ink table

  4. (modifier) Australian and NZ made or constructed of coarse wooden planks: a slab hut

  5. informal, mainly British an operating or mortuary table

  6. mainly British and Australian informal a package containing 24 cans of beer

verbslabs, slabbing or slabbed (tr)
  1. to cut or make into a slab or slabs

  2. to cover or lay with slabs

  1. to saw slabs from (a log)

Origin of slab

1
C13: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012