Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Slack?

\Slack\, n. [Cf. {Slag}.] Small coal; also, coal dust; culm. --Raymond.
\Slack\, n. [Icel. slakki a slope on a mountain edge.] A valley, or small, shallow dell. [Prov. Eng.] --Grose.
\Slack\, a. [Compar. {Slacker}; superl. {Slackest}.] [OE. slak, AS. sleac; akin to OS. slak, OHG. slah, Prov. G. schlack, Icel. slakr, Sw. slak; cf. Skr. s[.r]j to let loose, to throw. Cf. {Slake}.] Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a slack rope. 2. Weak; not holding fast; as, a slack hand. --Milton. 3. Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. --2 Pet. iii. 9. 4. Not violent, rapid, or pressing; slow; moderate; easy; as, business is slack. ``With slack pace.'' --Chaucer. C?sar . . . about sunset, hoisting sail with a slack southwest, at midnight was becalmed. --Milton. {Slack in stays} (Naut.), slow in going about, as a ship. {Slack water}, the time when the tide runs slowly, or the water is at rest; or the interval between the flux and reflux of the tide. {Slack-water navigation}, navigation in a stream the depth of which has been increased, and the current diminished, by a dam or dams. Syn: Loose; relaxed; weak; remiss; backward; abated; diminished; inactive; slow; tardy; dull.
\Slack\, adv. Slackly; as, slack dried hops.
\Slack\, n. The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.
\Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Slacked}, {Slackened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Slacking}, {Slackening}.] [See {Slack}, a.] 1. To become slack; to be made less tense, firm, or rigid; to decrease in tension; as, a wet cord slackens in dry weather. 2. To be remiss or backward; to be negligent. 3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake; as, lime slacks. 4. To abate; to become less violent. Whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. --Milton. 5. To lose rapidity; to become more slow; as, a current of water slackens. 6. To languish; to fail; to flag. 7. To end; to cease; to desist; to slake. [Obs.] That through your death your lineage should slack. --Chaucer. They will not of that firste purpose slack. --Chaucer.
\Slack\, Slacken \Slack"en\, v. t. 1. To render slack; to make less tense or firm; as, to slack a rope; to slacken a bandage. --Wycklif (Acts xxvii. 40) 2. To neglect; to be remiss in. [Obs.] --Shak. Slack not the pressage. --Dryden. 3. To deprive of cohesion by combining chemically with water; to slake; as, to slack lime. 4. To cause to become less eager; to repress; to make slow or less rapid; to retard; as, to slacken pursuit; to slacken industry. ``Rancor for to slack.'' --Chaucer. I should be grieved, young prince, to think my presence Unbent your thoughts, and slackened 'em to arms. --Addison. In this business of growing rich, poor men should slack their pace. --South. With such delay Well plased, they slack their course. --Milton. 5. To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease. To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this ill mansion. --Milton. {Air-slacked lime}, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime.