Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SLATCH, n.

1. In seamen's language, the period of a transitory breeze. – Mar. Dict.
2. An interval of fair weather. – Bailey.
3. Slack. [See Slack.]

SLATE, n. [Fr. eclater, to split, Sw. slita; Ir. sglata, a tile. Class Ld.]

1. An argillaceous stone which readily splits into plates; argillite; argillaceous shist.
2. A piece of smooth argillaceous stone, used for covering buildings.
3. A piece of smooth stone of the above species, used for writing on.

SLATE, or SLETE, v.t.

To set a dog loose at any thing. [Local.] – Ray.

SLATE, v.t.

To cover with slate or plates of stone; as, to slate a roof. [It does not signify to tile.]

SLATE-AX, n.

A mattock with an ax-end; used in slating. – Encyc.

SLAT-ED, pp.

Covered with slate.

SLAT-ER, n.

One that lays slates, or whose occupation to slate buildings.

SLAT-ING, ppr.

Covering with slates.

SLAT'TER, v.i. [G. schlottern, to hang loosely; schlotterig, negligent. See Slut.]

1. To be careless of dress and dirty. – Ray.
2. To be careless, negligent, or awkward; to spill carelessly.

SLAT'TERN, n.

A woman who is negligent of her dress, or who suffers her clothes and furniture to be in disorder; one who is not neat and nice.

SLAT'TERN, v.t.

To slattern away, to consume carelessly or wastefully; to waste. [Unusual.] – Chesterfield.

SLAT'TERN-LI-NESS, n.

State of being slatternly.

SLAT'TERN-LY, adv.

Negligently; awkwardly. – Chesterfield.

SLAT-Y, a. [from slate.]

Resembling slate; having the nature or properties of slate; as, a slaty color or texture; a slaty feel.

SLAUGH-TER, n. [slaw'ter; Sax. slæge; D. slagting; G. schlachten, to kill; Ir. slaighe; slaighim, to slay. See Slay.]

1. In a general sense, a killing. Applied to men, slaughter usually denotes great destruction of life by violent means; as, the slaughter of men in battle.
2. Applied to beasts, butchery; a killing of oxen or other beasts for market.

SLAUGH-TER, v.t. [slaw'ter.]

1. To kill; to slay; to make great destruction of life; as, to slaughter men in battle.
2. To butcher; to kill for the market; as, beasts.

SLAUGH-TER-ED, pp. [slaw'tered.]

Slain; butchered.

SLAUGH-TER-ER, n.

A person employed in slaughtering.

SLAUGH-TER-HOUSE, n. [slaw'ter-house.]

A house where beasts are butchered for the market.

SLAUGH-TER-ING, ppr. [slaw'tering.]

Killing; destroying human life; butchering.

SLAUGH-TER-MAN, n. [slaw'ter-man.]

One employed in killing. – Shak.

SLAUGH-TER-OUS, a. [slaw'terous.]

Destructive; murderous. – Shak.

SLAUGH'TER-OUS-LY, adv. [slawterously.]

Destructively; murderously.

SLAVE, n. [D. slaaf; G. sclave; Dan. slave, sclave; Sw. slaf; Fr. esclave; Arm. sclaff; It. schiavo; Sp. esclavo; Port. escravo; Ir. sclabhadh. This word is commonly derived fram Sclavi, Sclavonians, the name of a people who were made slaves by the Venetians. But this is not certain.]

1. A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and service are wholly under the control of another. In the early state of the world, and to this day, among some barbarous nations, prisoners of war are considered and treated as slaves. The slaves of modern times are more generally purchased, like horses and oxen.
2. One who has lost the power of resistance; or one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as, a slave to passion, to lust, to ambition. – Waller.
3. A mean person; one in the lowest state of life.
4. A drudge; one who labors like a slave.

SLAVE, v.i.

To drudge; to toil; to labor as a slave.