slungshot (slungshot)

A weapon consisting of a metal ball or a stone slung to a short strap, chain, or braided leather handle, or in any similar way: it is used by roughs and criminals, and is a dangerous weapon. slunk1 (slungk). Preterit and past participle of slink1. slumbery (slum'bèr-i), a . [ slombery ; a . A variant of slink2 . slumber +-y1.] Slumberous; inclined to sleep; slunken (slung'kn), a . [Cf. slink3, slank .] sleeping; also, occurring in sleep. Lean; shriveled. P [Prov. Eng.] = Icel. slōra, trail, = Sw. dial. slöra, be carele or negligent, slur over, = Norw. slöre, be negligent, sully; perhaps a contracted form of the freq. verb, MD. slodderen = LG. sludderen, hang loosely, be lazy, Icel. slodhra, drag or trail oneself along: see slodder, and cf. slotter and slut. Cf. also slur2, n.] I. trans. 1. Το smear; soil by smearing with something; sully; contaminate; pollute; tarnish: often with over. Her cheekes not yet slurd over with the paint Of borrowed crims one. Marston , Antonio and Mellida, II., iii. 2. 2. To disparage by insinuation or innuendo; depreciate; calumniate; traduce; asperse; speak slightingly of. They impudently slur the gospel. Cudworth, Sermons, p. 73. (Latham.) Men slur him, saying all his force Is melted into mere effeminacy. Tennyson, Geraint. 3. To pa lightly (over or through); treat lightly or slightingly; make little of: commonly with over. Studious to please the genius of the times, With periods, points, and tropes he slurs his crimes. Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, i. 171. He [David Deans) was by no means pleased with the quiet and indifferent manner in which King William's government slurred over the errors of the times. Scott , Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviii. So they only slurred through their fagging just well enough to escape a licking, and not always that, and got the character of sulky, unwilling fags. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 9. 4t. To cheat, originally by slipping or sliding a die in a particular way: an old gambling term; hence, to trick or cheat in general. What was the Public Faith found out for, But to slur men of what they fought for? S. Butler, Hudibras, II. ii. 192. 5. To do (anything) in a carele manner; render obscure or indistinct by running together, as words in speaking.-6. In music, to sing (two or more tones) to a single syllable, or perform in a legato manner. See slur1, n., 4.7. In printing, to blur or double, as an impre ion from type; mackle. II. in trans. 1. To slide; be moved or dragged along in a shuffling, negligent way. Her soft, heavy footsteps slurred on the stairway as though her strength were failing. The Century, XXXVIII. 250. 2t. To practise cheating by slipping a die out of the box so as not to let it turn; hence, to cheat in any way. Thirdly, by slurring that is, by taking up your dice as you will have them advantageously lie in your hand, placing the one atop the other, not caring if the uppermost run a millstone (as they use to say), if the undermost run without turning. Compleat Gamester (1680), p. 11. ( Nares .) 3. In music, to apply a slur to two or more notes. slur1 (slėr), n. [ No one can rely upon such an one, either with safety to his affairs or without a slur to his reputation. South , Sermons. 2. A disparaging or slighting remark; an insinuation; an innuendo: as, he could never speak of him without a slur. Mr. Cooling tells me my Lord Generall is become mighty low in all people's opinion, and that he hath received several slurs from the King and Duke of York. Pepys, Diary, III. 2. 3t. A trick; a cheat. See slurl , v. i., 2. All the politics of the great Are like the cunning of a cheat, That lets his false dice freely run, And trusts them to themselves alone, But never lets a true one stir Without some fing'ring trick or slur . S. Butler , Remains, Miscellaneous Thoughts. 4. In vocal music , the combination of two or more tones of the music sung to a single syllable. The term originally signified simply a legato IMG:content-1342.png:[blocks in formation] Mons. Well, how goes the dancing forward?... Ger . [As dancing-master.] One, two, three, and a slur . Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, iv. 1. 7. In printing, a blurred or doubled imp res sheet.-8. In a knitting-machine, mechanism sion caused by a shake or uneven motion in the which travels on a bar called the slur-bar, and depre es the jack-sinkers jack-sin in succe ion, sink ing a loop of thread between every pair of needles. E. H. Knight.