slater (slater)

[ME. slater, sclater; But th' masons, and slaters , and such like have left their work, and locked up the yards. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, v. 2. A general name of cursorial isopods. Slaters proper, or wood-slaters, also called wood - lice, hog - lice, and sow - bugs, are terrestrial on is cids, of the family Oniscidæ, as the British Porcellio scaber. Box-slaters are Idoteidæ; water-slaters are Asellidæ, as the gribble, Limnoria tere. brans; shield-slaters belong to the genus Ca idina; globe slaters to Sphæroma. The cheliferous slaters are Tanai dæ. See the technical names, and cuts under Oniscus and Isopod a. 3. A tool, with blade of slate, used for fleshing or slating hides.