slap, slappe

[Low Ger. slapp =the sound (f a blow; schlappen to slap.] 1. A blow, especially one given with the open hand or with something broad. "The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse, go round." Thomson: Autumn, 54. 2. A gap in a wall or dyke. ( Scotch .) "His guide then broke down a slap , as he called it, in a dry stone fence." -Scott: Guy Manner ing , ch. i. slăp, v . t . [SLAP, 8.] 1. Ord . Lang .: To strike with the open hand, or with something broad. "[Dick] slapped his hand upon the board." Prior: Alma, i. 34. 2. Mason.: To break out an opening in a solid wall. slăp, adv. [SLAP, 8.] With a sudden and violent blow; plump. "They offered to come into the warehouse, then straight went the yard slap over their noddle." -Arbuthnot : Hist. of John Bull. slap-bang, adv. Violently, suddenly; with a bang or noise. *slap-sauce, s. A parasite. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot IMG:content-1565.png:[blocks in formation] B. As adj .: Very big, great, or large. ( Vulgar .) C. As substantive: "Broke their rude troops, and orders did confound, Hewing and slashing at their idle shades." Spenser: F. Q., II. ix. 15. "Not that I'd lop the beauties from his book Like slashing Bentley with his desp'rate hook." Pope: Satires, v. 104. slăsh (2), v . t. [A corrupt. of lash (q. v.).] 1. To cut with a whip; to lash. 1. Bot . ( of a leaf ): Divided by deep, taper-pointed cut incisions. Multifid, laciniated, decomposed. 2. Her .: A term employed when openings or gash- ings in the sleeve are to be described as filled with a puffing of another tincture. hence, in literary slang, cutting up; severe, sarcastic. 2. Very large; very big or great; whopping. ( Vul- gar . ) slash-, a . [Eng. slash (3) v.; -y.] Wet and dirty; slushy. 1. A thin narrow strip of wood; specifically- (1) One of the transverse pieces which rest at their ends upon the side-rails of a bedstead. (2) In vehicles: slat-matting, subst . A floor covering of wooden slats or veneers on a flexible fabric, which may be rolled like a carpet. slăt, v . t . [Icel. sletta =to strike, to slap; Norw. slett a blow.] *1. To beat, to strike, to slap; to throw down violently. [SLATE (2), v .] 2. To split, to crack ( Prov .). In this sense per 3. To set on; to incite. (Prov.) IMG:content-1566.png:[blocks in formation] upper surface of a slate is called its back, the under surface the bed, the lower edge the tail, the upper edge the head. The part of each course of slates 1. The act or operation of laying slates on roofs, exposed to view is called the margin of the course, . and the width of the margin is called the gauge. The portion hidden from view is the cover. The bond or lap is the distance which the lower edge of any course overlaps the slates of the second course below, measuring from the nail-hole, and may be from two to four inches. Slates are laid on laths, battens, or sheathing, and must break joints. [BREAK, V. , C. 21.] The nails are of copper, zinc, or tinned iron. A square of slate or slating is 100 superficial feet. *4. A lamina; a thin plate; a flake. "It [the Columbine marle] will resolve and cleave into most thin slates and flakes."-P. Holland: Pliny, bk. xvii., ch. viii. 5. A list of candidates prepared for nomination or election; a preliminary list of candidates which is liable to revision. II. Technically : 1. Geol .: Slates of a typical kind are generally of great antiquity, being chiefly of Cam brian or Silurian age. Sometimes, however, the term is more loosely applied to any rock of fi ile structure whatever the character, as the Colly west on Slates of the Lower Oõlite, which are calcareous sand- IMG:content-1567.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1568.png:[blocks in formation] The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia "The griesly gulfs and slaty rifts." Scott : Lord of the Isles, iii. 16. slaty-cleavage, s . [CLEAVAGE.] slaughter ( gh silent), *slagh-ter, *slau-tir, *slaw-tyr, s. [Icel. slátra slaughtering, butchers' meat; slátra =to slaughter cattle; A. S. sleaht . From the same root as slay , v. (q.v.)] The act of killing 1. ( Of human beings ): An indiscriminate and vio- lent putting to death. slaughter-oŭs ( gh silent), adj . [Eng. slaugh- 1er; -ous.] Destructive, murderous. "There would I go and hang my armor up, And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more." Matthew Arnold : Sohrab and Rustum. 4. A mean, abject person; a wretch. "Go base intruder, overweening slave ! Bestow thy fawning smiles on equal mates." Shakesp.: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 1. 5. A drudge; one who has to work like a slave. slave-born, a. Born in slavery. slave-coffie, s. A band of slaves for sale; a cofile. slave-dealer, s. One who deals in slaves. slave-driver, s. An overseer of slaves at their work; hence, a cruel or severe master. Bot .: Simaruba officinal is . Called also the Bitter either married or single; that the position of a slave is as Damson-tree. Mas singer : Renegade, iv. 2. [Eng. slave , s., and holder .] a slave-owner. slāve-hold-er, s. One who owns slaves; slave-hold-Ing, a. Holding or po e ing persons in slavery; as, a slave- holding state. slave-like, a. [Eng. slave , and like .] Like a slāv'-ěr (1), s. [Eng. slav ( e ); -er .] IMG:content-1570.png:[blocks in formation] slăv-ěr, v. i . & t . [Icel. slafra ; cogn. with Low the abolition of the slave trade. Many of his warm- Ger. slabbern .] A. Intransitive : est supporters belonged to the Society of Friends. In 1786 William Wilberforce (1759-1833) brought the subject before Parliament, but the Act abolishing it 1. To slabber; to suffer the spittle to run from did not become law till March 25, 1807. Agitation 2. To be besmeared with saliva. "Should I Slaver with lips as common as the stairs That mount the Capitol." slabber. "Twitch'd by the slave, he mouths it more and more, Till with white froth his gown is slaver'd o'er." Dryden. (Todd.) slăv-er-er, s. [Eng, slaver , v.; -er.] One who slavers; a slabberer, a driveler. In a slavering manner; with slaver or drivel. slāv-er-ỹ, s. [ Eng.slave ; -ry.] 1. The state or condition of a slave; bondage; the state or condition of being entirely subject to the will of another. Slavery is the obligation of the slave to work for the benefit of his master, without the consent or contract of the former; or it is the establishment of a right which gives one person such a power over another as to make him absolute master of the other's life and property. slavey 2. The keeping or po e ing of slaves; slaveholding; as. To abolish slavery . 3. The office of a slave; exhausting and mean labor; drudgery. slāveỹ, s. [ Eng.slave, s.; -y.] A servant-girl. ( Colloq. Eng.) "No well-conducted English girl need be a slavey at all."-London Daily Telegraph. Slav-ic, a . [Eng. Slav ; -ic .] Slavonic. Church Slavic : A name given to an ancient dialect of Bulgaria, from its being used as the sacred language of the Greek Church. Called also Old Bulgarian.