Word of the Day
Friday, July 20, 2001
slake
\SLAYK\ , transitive verb;
1.
To satisfy; to quench; to extinguish; as, to slake thirst.
2.
To cause to lessen; to make less active or intense; to moderate; as, slaking his anger.
3.
To cause (as lime) to heat and crumble by treatment with water.
intransitive verb:
1.
To become slaked; to crumble or disintegrate, as lime.
Quotes:
My companions never drink pure water and the . . . beer serves as much to slake their thirst as to fill their stomachs and lubricate conversation.
-- Philippe Descola, The Spears of Twilight
She had the money he gave her (never enough to slake her anxieties).
-- Nuala O'Faolain, Are You Somebody
Origin:
Slake comes from Middle English slaken, "to become or render slack," hence "to abate," from Old English slacian, from slæc, "slack."
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