▪ I. slash, n.1
(slæʃ)
[f. slash v.1]
1. a. A cutting stroke delivered with an edged weapon or instrument, or with a whip.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 297 marg., Because euery one was ready to cutte his throte as to haue a slash at his fleshe. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 13 b/2 A great hewe or slashe, by which the eare hangeth by the heade. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 26 Sometimes they fight after their fashion, which is a slash or two with the edge of the sword. 1652 Sir C. Cotterell tr. Calprenède's Cassandra iii. (1676) 43 Cut the straps of his Cask, with a slash of his sword. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. i, I observed it had yet some life, but, with a strong slash across the neck, I thoroughly despatched it. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxix, He..had only taken this recumbent posture to avoid the slashes, stabs, and pistol-balls, which..were flying in various directions. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) II. 431 There seemed a prospect of the English crown passing, without slash or blow, to the brow of the Norman. |
| transf. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. vii. (1872) II. 119 Capable of rough slashes of sarcasm when he opens his old beard for speech. 1867 Latham Black & White 3 Listening to the angry slash with which each wave's crest swished like a scourge across the ship. |
b. In Cricket, any unorthodox attacking stroke played with a great swing of the bat.
| 1906 A. E. Knight Complete Cricket ii. 78 A slash at the ball, the bat slicing the ball instead of meeting it with the full face. 1948 Sporting Mirror 21 May 7/1 The first shot he made after arriving at the wickets was a glorious ‘slash’ to the boundary. 1977 Daily Express 29 Jan. 35/1 Yajuvendra, never looking the part in his first Test innings, took a full-blooded slash outside off stump at a short one from Willis. |
c. fig. A reduction; a (swingeing) cut. Cf. slash v.1 1 d.
| 1950 N.Y. Times 20 Apr. 2/1 (heading) House group bars overall 50% slash in wartime excises. 1951 [see consumer 2 c]. 1973 Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 1 This would be the second wave of base slashes in about a year. 1983 Guardian Weekly 6 Mar. 14/1 A 50 per cent slash in the army's budget. |
2. a. A long and deep or severe cut; a gash; a wound of this character.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong s.v. Taillade, He gaue him a slashe or cutte on the legge. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 986 Three great slashes [were] made on his backe, where they began to flea him. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 10 In adding to their beauties, they have two or three slashes in the face. 1717 Prior Alma ii. 445 Scarr'd with ten thousand comely Blisters,..Distinguish'd Slashes deck the Great. 1829 Scott Rob Roy Introd., A slash or two, or a broken head, was easily accommodated. 1890 Doyle White Company xxx, The Bohemian knight..bleeding from a slash across the forehead. |
b. Bot. (See quot.)
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 654/1 Lacinia,..a slash. A deep taper-pointed incision. |
3. a. A vertical slit made in a garment in order to expose to view a lining or under garment of a different or contrasting colour.
| 1615 Markham Country Contentm. i. xi. (1633) 75 Let your apparel be plain..without any new fashioned slashes, or hanging sleeves, waving loose, like sails about you. 1627 in Birch Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 261 A swain..was suspected..and..searched, and a poisoned knife found in one of his slashes. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 109 ¶5 Observe the small Buttons,..the Slashes about his Clothes. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. i, The colour of the traveller's doublet was blue, and that of his hose violet, with slashes which showed a lining of the same colour with the jerkin. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlwk. 451/2 Slashes or Panes, a term used by tailors and dressmakers, to signify a vertical cutting in any article of dress [etc.]. |
b. attrib. with cuff, pocket. Also absol. (see quot. 1839).
| 1799 Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 149 To you I submit..whether the coat shall have slash Cuffs (with blue flaps passing through them), and slash pockets. 1839 H. Brandon Poverty, Mendicity & Crime 165/1 Slash, outside coat pocket. 1969 Sears Catal. Spring/Summer 47 No-iron reversible jacket... Plaid side has two slash pockets. 1973 W. Hallahan Ross Forgery iii. 3 The watchman pushed his hands into the slash pockets of his jacket. |
4. a. An open tract or clearing in a forest, esp. one strewn with debris resulting from felling or logging, high wind, or fire. Cf. slashing vbl. n. 4 b. N. Amer.
| 1825 A. Anderson Diary 30 Aug. in G. Sellar Narr. (1916) vii. 102 We have been here scarce three months and there is a great slash. 1849 J. E. Alexander L' Acadie I. 272 After various difficulties..getting with our horses into ‘slashes’ or parts of the forest cut down..we at last reached the small wooden hostel. 1923 H. E. Williams Spinning Wheels & Homespun 154 Raspberries are found oftenest in what are called ‘slashes’ in the woods, where the older timber has been cut down, and the new has not yet grown up to replace it. 1963 Sun (Vancouver) 23 Nov. 21/1 The rolling hills along the..rivers are parklike with their copses of fir, tamarack, poplar and willow..left standing in old log slashes or burns. |
b. Felled trees and other debris left in a forest after logging or the clearing of a tract, or resulting from high wind or fire. Cf. slashing vbl. n. 4 c. orig. and chiefly N. Amer.
In mod. use, slash denotes the branches and other trimmings cut from trees preparatory to removing the logs from a forest.
| 1841 Bytown (Ottawa) Gaz. 17 Feb. 1/3 To end of month clearing up old ‘slash’, which term has previously been defined. 1917 F. D. Adams in J. O. Miller New Era in Canada 85 In Quebec and British Columbia, settlers who desire to burn their slash must now obtain permits from the Government forest ranger, who supervises the burning. 1928 Indian Forest Rec. XIII. vii. 3 Comprehensively defined, chir slash includes all débris resulting from operations involving the felling and utilization of chir trees, and also from the destruction of trees of this species by such agencies as wind, snow, fire, lightning, floods, landslips, insects and fungi. 1952 P. W. Richards Tropical Rain Forest xvii. 379 Soil impoverishment will in turn depend on..the quantity of debris and ‘slash’ left on the ground after clearing. 1965 Wildlife Rev. Mar. 19/2 Cougars travel over long ranges and are found in various ecological types of terrain such as slash, mature forest and second growth. 1980 Search XI. 71/1 Planting of tubed stock on corridors cleared of slash may be another means of establishing eucalypt seedlings. |
c. attrib. and Comb., as slash area, slash fire.
| 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 30 May 12/3 After about a third of a mile you break out into a *slash area where logging operations have been carried out. |
| 1949 Pacific Discovery Jan.–Feb. 4/1 The river knew well the flashing draft of lightning fires in the grass but not the consuming roar of a *slash fire. 1980 Search XI. 69/1 Slash fires result in mobilisation of large amounts of nutrients both during the fire..and subsequently as a result of stimulated biological mineralisation in the soil. |
5. A thin sloping line, thus /; = oblique n. 5, solidus1 2. U.S. Also slash-mark.
| 1961 in Webster. 1964 Amer. Speech XXXIX. 103 The number to the right of the slash is the total number of occurrences of that type of clause. 1976 T. Allbeury Only Good German x. 76 Reference SC49 slash two. 1979 C. E. Schorske Fin-de-Siècle Vienna vii. 331 Breaking the phrase with slash marks at unsuspected nodes. 1980 Maledicta III. ii. 206 Although it is true that . , : ; () - [] – ! ? / and * have names—in the case of /, several names: solidus, virgule, slash-mark, diagonal—there is a gap in the naming of {hash}. |
▸ orig. and chiefly Science Fiction. After the written form of K/S n. A subgenre of fiction, originally published in fanzines and now esp. online, in which characters who appear together in popular films or other media are portrayed as having a sexual (esp. homosexual) relationship. Chiefly attrib.
| 1984 Not Tonight, Spock! Jan. 1 Recommended Book List..to include gay books, other slash zines, or media zines with good K/S stories. 1988 New Yorker 12 Dec. 38/1 ‘Spock enslaved’ is an erotic zine. It's not really a slash book, but it's part of the same movement. 1993 FRA Rev. May–June 64 There is another chapter on slash, or fanzine stories written with the assumption of a homoerotic relationship between male media characters. 1998 R. J. Coombe Cultural Life of Intellect. Prop. ii. 128 Starsky and Hutch fans worried that public exposure of ‘Slash’ literature would hurt the reputations of stars they regarded with respect and affection. |
▪ II. slash, n.2
[Of obscure origin: cf. Sc. slash a large splash of liquid, etc., perh. ad. OF. esclache (Godef.).]
† 1. A drink, draught. Obs. rare.
| 1614 W. Hornby Sco. Drunkennesse (1859) 18 But if to pledge a slash hee doth refuse They'l take the pot, and throw the drinke in's face. c 1783 Roxb. Ball. (1890) VII. 94 Flounders, the younger,..So prim on his stallion and fond of his slash. |
2. slang. An act of urination.
| 1950 P. Tempest Lag's Lexicon 192 Slash, to go for a, to visit the urinal. 1953 Chambers's Jrnl. June 325/1 ‘I'm leaving my turret for a moment. I want a slash.’ ‘Okay, kid, you know where to find it?’ ‘I should do. I've had to empty them often enough!’ 1977 N. J. Crisp Odd Job Man i. 5 He decided to risk a quick slash, which..he needed. |
▪ III. slash, n.3 U.S.
(slæʃ)
[Of obscure origin: cf. flash n.1 and plash n.1, also Eng. dial. slashy wet and dirty, miry.]
a. Swampy ground; a swamp.
| 1652 in N. M. Nugent Cavaliers & Pioneers (1934) I. 239/2 Neer a wett slash, running N.N.W. to an Easternmost branch of Richard Cr. 1717 Prince George County (Virginia) Deed Bk. 202 in Amer. Speech (1940) XV. 393/1 A white Oake Standing in a round Slash. 1799 Washington Writ. (1893) XIV. 232 Excepting the ground now in and designed for lucerne, south of the slash by the Barn. 1837 P. H. Gosse in Life (1890) 106 The first quarter of a mile lay through a very rough slash. a 1859 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., Between this and Edenton there are many whortleberry slashes. 1890 Cent. Mag. June 221/2 The camp was in a cypress slash. You could cut the miasma with a knife. 1897 Geogr. Jrnl. IX. 538 There are many successive ridges of shingle running in varying directions, and often with narrow strips of marsh enclosed between successive ridges. Such bands of marsh have been given the very appropriate name of ‘slashes’ in New Jersey. 1903 Dialect Notes II. 330 [S.E. Missouri] Slash, wet bottom land. A slash differs from a slough in having no perceptible channel. 1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xlvi. 29 Slash, a swamp.— ‘It was in that slash down on the river.’ |
b. Comb. slash-pine, a pine growing in a slash or low-lying coastal region, esp. Pinus caribæa, the principal native pine of south-eastern North America; also, the wood of this tree.
| 1882 F. B. Hough Elem. Forestry 328 Varieties [of Pinus taeda] are known in North Carolina as ‘Swamp Pine’, ‘*Slash Pine’. 1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 516 The slash pine (Pinus Cubensis) of the Florida coast. 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 7 Dec. 3/2 Dr. Herty recently made newsprint from slash and other southern pine. 1949 Clarke County Democrat (Grove Hill, Alabama) 28 July 1/3 Both have plots on which they have set out slash pine seedlings. 1974 Calhoun Times (St. Matthews, S. Carolina) 18 Apr. 2/1 Loblolly and slash pines are most susceptible [to rust galls]. |
▪ IV. slash, n.4 local.
(slæʃ)
[Later form of slatch 1.]
(See quots.)
| 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. 376 Besides ‘sloughs’ there occur in Broadhaven and elsewhere, small but very deep troughs of finely fractured culm, which are called ‘slashes’. These (as far as my knowledge goes) are peculiar to Pembrokeshire. 1849 ― Siluria (1854) 275 The stone-coal..has been for the most part shivered into small fragments, and is frequently accumulated in small troughs or hollows, the ‘slashes’ of the miners. 1916 [see slatch 1]. |
▪ V. slash, v.1
(slæʃ)
Also 4 slasch, 6–7 slassh.
[perh. ad. OF. esclachier to break; used once in the Wycliffite Bible, but otherwise recorded only from the middle of the 16th cent.]
1. a. trans. To cut or wound with a sweep or stroke of a sharp weapon or instrument; to gash, † hew.
| 1382 Bible 1 Kings v. 18 (MS. Bodl. 959), The grete stones..which þe masownys of Salamon..han slascht [altered to ouerscorchyd]. 1587 Turberv. Trag. Tales (1837) 42 Slashing the Lady with his fauchion fell. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 114 Hewd and slasht he had beene as small as chippings, if he had not played ducke Fryer. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iii. Law 664 Alas! some of us shall with Scythes be slasht. 1685 Cotton tr. Montaigne (1877) I. 14 Where all their confederates and neighbours..cut and slashed their fore heads in token of sorrow. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. xxxviii. 152 Some slashed their arms with sharp knives, making the blood spring out. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 518 The thighs with fire consumed, they..slash'd the remnant, pierced it with spits [etc.]. 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whaleman's Advent. v. (1858) 67 The mincer with a two-handed knife slashes it nearly through into thin slices. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. xviii, There are few things a woman..would not do to save two friends from hacking and slashing each other. |
| refl. 1652–62 Heylyn Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 64 Most hideously to slash themselves in all parts of their bodies. |
b. To cut off or out with a sweeping or sharp stroke.
| 1599 Greene Alphonsus 597 Therefore Fabius, stand not lingring, But presently slash off his trayterous head. 1625 Purchas Pilgrimes ii. 1724 Their owne flesh..they slash off in morsels. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xix, I will slash the eyes out of his head with my poniard! 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. v. vii, Already one poor Invalide has his right hand slashed off him. |
c. To clear (land) of vegetation, to cut (trees or undergrowth) down, esp. preparatory to burning off the resulting slash. Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1821 T. McCulloch Stepsure Letters (1960) 20 He had slashed down a large piece of wood; and now he determined to raise a crop. 1849 C. Hursthouse Acct. Settlement New Plymouth vii. 93 The cane-like fern stalks..should be cut at once,..and the ‘Tutu’ slashed down with a bill-hook. 1889 W. H. Withrow Our Own Country 362 The native forest had been ‘slashed’ in that particular locality. 1931 Beaver Sept. 276 Five acres of virgin land were slashed. 1962 A. Fry Ranch on Cariboo 66 Sometimes we built fence or slashed brush to extend the yard. |
d. fig. To reduce (something) severely in size or quantity. Freq. used with reference to prices, payments, etc.
| 1906 Washington Post 29 Apr. 6 A disposition was manifested in the Senate Committee to slash the salaries of members of the commission. 1910 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republican 8 Dec. 8 It is not a pleasant thing to slash a presidential message to this extent. 1931 Evening Standard 4 Aug. 10/1 The big department stores have not merely reduced their prices; they have ‘slashed’ them. 1958 Listener 13 Nov. 777/2 After that I stuck to one garage and slashed expenditure by 50 per cent. at a single stroke. 1976 Daily Mirror 16 July 1/1 Labour held their seat in yesterday's vital Thurrock by-election. But their majority was slashed. |
2. a. intr. To deliver or aim cutting blows (also const. at); to make gashes or deep wounds.
| 1548 Patten Exped. Scotl. H iv, Euen so..was Syr Arthur Darcy slasht at with swoordes, and..hurt vppon the weddyng fynger of hys righte hande. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ix. 15 The knights..Broke their rude troupes,..Hewing and slashing at their idle shades. 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. viii. 261 Swoordes flew out, most feircelie hissinge, percinge, cuttinge, slasshinge. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. 1. 349 Knights..when they slash, and cut to pieces, Doe all with civillest addresses. 1709 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 317 Y⊇ Spatæ were us'd both to push and slash. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxi, The enemy..will fall to, cutting and slashing, till he makes them all rise up dead men. 1846 Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. II. 291 Then did he slit them with his thumbnail, and then did he pare and slash away at them again. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. 44 In the fights..these lads hacked and slashed with the same tremendous spirit. |
| fig. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 114 He would needs..hewe and slash with his Hexameters. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. vii. (1872) VIII. 225 The Austrians..will not go, till well slashed into, and torn out by sheer beating. |
b. To strike violently or at random; to lay about one with heavy blows; to move rapidly and violently, etc. Also with down, out. Also in cricket, to play a vigorous attacking stroke. Occas. trans. (in quot. with bowler as object).
| a 1654 Selden Table T. (Arb.) 88 They that do drudgery⁓work, slash, and puff, and swear. 1819 Sporting Mag. IV. 236 Boshell came up rather distressed,..and endeavoured to slash out. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. 159 We..came slashing down with the mad current into the narrow passage between the dykes. 1901 Scotsman 10 Sept. 7/3 Williamson..slashed to the enclosure. 1955 [see gully n.1 2 d]. 1974 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 26 Oct. 7–d/7 Tailback Mike Newman slashed across from two yards out to cut Westlake's margin to 7-6 with 8:42 left. 1977 C. Martin-Jenkins MCC in India iii. 51 Viswanath slashed, snicked and was caught by Knott. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 87/1 The self-appointed England exile slashed Sarfraz for two boundaries in the first over. |
3. trans. To cut slits in (a garment) and so expose to view an under-garment or a lining of a contrasting colour; to vary with another material or colour in this way.
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 9 A Coat slasht to hang back to shew their Sleeves. 1820 Scott Monast. xviii, A carnation-velvet doublet, slashed and puffed out with cloth of silver. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. vii, Those enormous habiliments, that were..slashed and galooned. 1898 Stratford-on-Avon Herald 11 Feb., A morning dress was made with..cuff sleeves to match, slashed with bright colour. |
| transf. 1889 Doyle Micah Clarke 26 The sun sinking slowly behind a fog-bank had slashed the whole western sky with scarlet streaks. |
4. To cut with a scourge or whip; to lash, whip, thrash severely.
| 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair iv. iv, You know where you were taw'd lately, both lash'd, and slash'd you were in Bridewell. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 266/1 Here I stand, with whip in hand To slash all those that do oppose Good Husbandry. 1710 Medley No. 12, These the Emperor order'd to be daily beaten and slash'd in the Market-place with cudgels, whips, and scourges. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxiii, Drag him to the market-place!—slash him with bridle-reins and dog⁓whips! 1896 A. J. C. Hare Story Life I. iii. 173 He was very hot-tempered, and slashed our hands with a ruler. |
5. To rebuke or assail cuttingly; to criticize severely or mercilessly. Also absol.
| 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I, Pref. 4 History must not cauterise, and slash with Malice, those Noble Parts. 1659 Pell Impr. Sea Ded. a 5 b, Because you have Authority..to cut the comb of that, which this Book so sharply slashes, and reproves in the Sea. a 1734 North Examen ii. iv. §55 If we would see him in his Altitudes, we must go back to the House of Commons... There he cuts and slashes at another Rate. 1771 Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 121, I do not think myself bound to defend the character of even the best of kings. Pray slash them, and spare not. 1830 Lytton P. Clifford v, Criticism is a great science and may be divided into three branches: viz. ‘to tickle, to slash, and to plaster’. |
6. To crack (a whip); to bring down in a slashing manner.
| 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. vi. ii. 220 She slash'd a whip which she had in her hand; the cracks thereof were..loud and dreadful. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. ix. 305 He slashed his breaded whip. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iii. 13 Slashing his whip so near the horse that the creature was frightened. 1899 Werner Capt. Locusts 113 She brought her switch down on the old grey's flank; and then..slashed it sharply across her own shoulders. |
7. To beat, tread down.
| 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xxxiii. 18 Where the herds have slashed down the high grass. |
8. Used adverbially to denote action or sound.
| a 1654 Selden Table T. (Arb.) 71 A Whip that cry'd Slash. 1839 John Bull 11 Aug., Here, said he, and slash went the knife. |
9. Comb. slash-hook = slasher 2 b.
| 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xv. 231 Vines, creepers, supplejacks, and small saplings..require to be carefully cut by *slash-hooks. 1930 Blunden Poems 188 Some harsh slash-hook Slit my skull and poured out all the fountains of my senses. 1942 [see fagging vbl. n.2]. |
▪ VI. slash, v.2 slang.
(slæʃ)
[f. slash n.2 2.]
intr. To urinate.
| 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 189 If you can slash in my bed (I thought) don't tell me you can't suck my cock. |