Pronunciations
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/slæk/
Noun
The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
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the slack of a rope or of a sail
take in the slack
A dip in a surface.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (2)
Richardson states that a low joint, a short distance from Haslam's Creek Bridge, was, in his opinion, the cause of the accident. […] [He] told Morgan, the Permanent Way Inspector, that there was a "slack" in the road on the Parramatta side of Haslam's Creek Bridge, […] I can positively state […] There was no such slack. The road was in as good running condition as I would wish to see any road. On all lines of course there are slacks, but not slacks of a serious nature; and that there was any such slack or depression in the rails as spoken of by Richardson I positively deny.
[…] a road may be kept up to approximately the same level at all times, and a fair surface maintained by rolling in large patches occasionally, as well as opening slacks in the road when they appear and effecting petty repairs. […] a series of slacks will begin to show in the run of the wheels; or […]
[…] to make good the voids under the sleeper […] to take out "slacks" in the rail level […]
In particular, a shallow dell or hollow; a dip in the surface of terrain, such as between hills.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Cauldstane Slap, or rather Slack, is a much frequented pass, through which the periodical droves of black cattle are transported into England.
... for they had at that time observed the side of the brae, where the little green slack was situated, covered with a sheet of flame for a moment.
More examples (3)
Then she became a gay grey mare, / And stood in yonder slack; And he became a gilt saddle, / And sat upon her back.
Not that every mountain stream springs from a tarn, but almost every tarn sends out a stream. Then, tarn-hunting teaches the relatively position of places almost as exactly as do the mountain-tops, leading by "backs," and "shoulders," and "slacks," and "feet," and over the lower heights straight to half a dozen seemingly irreconcilable districts[…]
The great interest of the sandhills is the slacks. They are more frequent in some parts than in others, for there are miles where the hollows are all sand and stargrass. But every here and there the hills have receded and formed a little flat valley, where there is something like soil, and where the rain lodges and the mosses grow. This is a "slack;" and in the Lancashire slacks may be found some of the most beautiful […] flowers.
A low-lying marsh or a pool, especially a tidal or intermittent one which periodically fills and drains.
Usage- Countable
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More examples (2)
The "slacks" I have mentioned are fresh-water pools which extend just inside the outer sandhills. Being mostly dry in summer, the shore fowl love to breed there. Peewits nest on their banks, and the long grasses and sand willow[…]
... in that quarter lay the great slack of the Watch Hill, the yellow slack that feeds the Blackburn, and in which horse and rider might readily disappear for ever.
Modern "moonpreneurs" now hijack tidal slacks to power server farms in Nova Scotia barns, mining Bitcoin during low tides when electricity costs crater.
Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
Usage- Uncountable
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More examples (2)
The counselor is directed to give his client "free attention," or "slack," performing a kind of vigil, a version of Carl Rogers's "unconditional positive regard."
We have apparently been doing this all our lives, since we were first distressed. This collection of ancient habits seems to be "energized" by the presence, or even the promise, of "slack" or free attention from any person in the situation […]
Adjective
Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.
Usage- normally said of a rope
- Examples
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a slack rope
Weak; not holding fast.
- Examples
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a slack hand
Moderate in some capacity. Moderately warm.
- Examples
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a slack oven
Moderate in some capacity. Moderate in speed.
- Examples
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a slack wind
Lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
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slack in duty or service
The Lord is not ſlacke cõcerning his promiſe (as ſome men count ſlackneſſe)[…].
Not active or busy, successful, or violent.
- Examples
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Business is slack.
the slack period following the main tourist season
More examples (2)
“They know our boats will stand up to their work,” said Willison, “and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just for that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time.”
In the slack hours the service is maintained by single motor-coaches.
Excess; surplus to requirements.
- Examples
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the slack capacity of an oil pipeline
Vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
Usage- Caribbean
- Jamaica
- Slang
Lax.
Adverb
Slackly.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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slack dried hops
Her clothes hung slack on her.
Verb
To slacken.
Usage- Transitive or intransitive
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More examples (1)
I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betrayes his maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovve vvhat my boy hath don; Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out.
In this business of growing rich, poor men […] should slack their pace.
To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
Usage- Obsolete
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Ne did ſhe let dull ſleepe once to relent, / Nor wearineſſe to ſlack her haſt, but fled / Euer alike,[…].
To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.
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Lime slacks.
To refuse to work as hard as one is supposed to.
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I can't afford to slack. This job is all I have!
Noun
A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
This pitfall, beginning in February and finishing in May, resulted in a drop of about 3 ft. in the platform level; during this period it was necessary to level the track three times weekly, and impose a service slack of 15 m.p.h. The subsidence appears now to have finished, and normal speed is once again permitted.
The train runs slowly with frequent slacks for bridge and culvert repairs. At one point occurs the changeover from left- to right-hand running.
A 40 m.p.h. slack at West Ruislip, quickly followed by a 30 m.p.h. slack at Gerrards Cross, increased our lateness to four minutes at High Wycombe.
Noun
A valley, or small, shallow dell; a sag or saddle in a ridge.
Usage- Countable
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More examples (1)
Red Ringan sped, and the spearmen led, Up Goranberry Slack; Aye, many a wight, unmatched in fight, Who never more came back. And bloody set the westering sun, And bloody rose he up; […]
"I see some folk coming through the slack yonder, […]"
More examples (1)
[…] southward, by the slack of the hill (2,500 feet), west of Ferrowie, (2,628 feet), on the County boundary, and descending by the Capel-burn to the South Esk,[…]
Sheelings : 1. Lies South of the Infields in a Slack betwixt two Hills 2. Lies at the South End of the Loch of Loch Beanoch […]
A flat-bottomed, hollow zone within a sand-dune system that has developed over impervious strata, sometimes due to erosion or blow-out of the dune system; its flat base level is therefore close to or at the permanent water-table level, and therefore has rich, marshy flora, with Salix species (willows) as typical woody colonisers.
Noun
Small coal; coal dust.
Usage- Uncountable
- Synonyms
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More examples (2)
One of the important improvements of recent years has been attained by mixing the peat pulp as it passes through the grinding machine, with other inflammable materials, such as bituminous coal dust, or slack […]
It had rather a woolly and uneven beat and was inclined to prime, but there was no trouble with steaming even though the tender contained mostly small slack and dust.
Adjective
not tense or taut
- Synonyms
- Examples
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the old man's skin hung loose and grey
slack and wrinkled skin
More examples (3)
slack sails
a slack rope
a slack grip
flowing with little speed as e.g. at the turning of the tide
- Examples
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slack water
lacking in rigor or strictness
- Synonyms
- Examples
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such lax and slipshod ways are no longer acceptable
lax in attending classes
More examples (1)
slack in maintaining discipline
Noun
dust consisting of a mixture of small coal fragments and coal dust and dirt that sifts out when coal is passed over a sieve
a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
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the team went into a slump
a gradual slack in output
More examples (2)
a drop-off in attendance
a falloff in quality
a stretch of water without current or movement
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
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suddenly they were in a slack and the water was motionless
a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
the quality of being loose (not taut)
- Synonyms
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he hadn't counted on the slackness of the rope
a cord or rope or cable that is hanging loosely
- Broader terms
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he took up the slack
Verb
avoid responsibilities and work, be idle
- Broader terms
be inattentive to, or neglect
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He slacks his attention
release tension on
- Examples
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slack the rope
make less active or fast
- Examples
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He slackened his pace as he got tired
Don't relax your efforts now
become slow or slower
- Broader terms
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Production slowed
make less active or intense
become less in amount or intensity
- Examples
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The storm abated
The rain let up after a few hours
cause to heat and crumble by treatment with water
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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slack lime