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Word of the DayFriday, January 14, 2005

slake

\SLAYK\ , transitive verb:

To satisfy; to quench; to extinguish; as, to slake thirst.

To cause to lessen; to make less active or intense; to moderate; as, slaking his anger.

To cause (as lime) to heat and crumble by treatment with water.

intransitive verb:

To become slaked; to crumble or disintegrate, as lime.

See the full Dictionary.com entry |See Synonyms on Thesaurus.com

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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