slack

slack
slack1
—slackingly, adv. —slackly, adv. —slackness, n.
/slak/, adj.
1. not tight, taut, firm, or tense; loose: a slack rope.
2. negligent; careless; remiss: slack proofreading.
3. slow, sluggish, or indolent: He is slack in answering letters.
4. not active or busy; dull; not brisk: the slack season in an industry.
5. moving very slowly, as the tide, wind, or water.
6. weak; lax.
7. Naut. easy (def. 15a).
adv.
8. in a slack manner.
n.
9. a slack condition or part.
10. the part of a rope, sail, or the like, that hangs loose, without strain upon it.
11. a decrease in activity, as in business or work: a sudden slack in output.
12. a period of decreased activity.
13. Geog. a cessation in a strong flow, as of a current at its turn.
14. a depression between hills, in a hillside, or in the land surface.
15. Pros. (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
16. Brit. Dial. a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
17. take up the slack,
a. to pull in or make taut a loose section of a rope, line, wire, etc.: Take up the slack before releasing the kite.
b. to provide or compensate for something that is missing or incomplete: New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.
v.t.
18. to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); shirk; leave undone: He slacked the most important part.
19. to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often fol. by up).
20. to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often fol. by off or out).
21. to slake (lime).
v.i.
22. to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
23. to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often fol. by up): Business is slacking up.
24. to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
25. to become slaked, as lime.
[bef. 900; ME slac (adj.), OE sleac, slaec; c. ON slakr, OHG slach, L laxus LAX]
Syn. 1. relaxed. 2. lazy, weak. 3. dilatory, tardy, late. 4. idle, quiet. 11. slowing, relaxation. 18. neglect. 19. reduce, slacken. 22. malinger.
slack2
/slak/, n.
the fine screenings of coal.
[1400-50; late ME sleck < MD slacke, slecke]

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Universalium. 2010.

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Synonyms:
, , , / , , , , , , (as lime) / , / , / , , , , , ,


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  • Slack — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Andrew Slack (* 1955), australischer Rugbyspieler Charles E. Slack, US amerikanischer Basketballspieler Charles Roger Slack (* 1937), britischer Biochemiker und Pflanzenphysiologe Freddie Slack (1910–1965) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Slack — 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • slack — slack1 [slak] adj. [ME slakke < OE slæc, akin to Du slak < IE base * (s)lēg , loose, slack > L laxus, lax] 1. slow; idle; sluggish 2. barely moving: said of a current, as of air or water 3. characterized by little work, trade, or… …   English World dictionary

  • Slack — 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) [1913 Webster] 2. To neglect; to be remiss in. [Obs.] Shak. [1913 Webster] Slack not the pressage.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slack — may refer to: *John Bamford Slack, British politician and lay preacher *William Yarnel Slack, Confederate general killed in the American Civil War *Slack (project management), a term used in project management *Slack, West Yorkshire, a village in …   Wikipedia

  • Slack — [slɛk , engl.: slæk], der; s [engl. slack = Flaute, zu: slack = locker, lose, flau] (Wirtsch.): Überschuss an [finanziellen] Mitteln eines Unternehmens, der sich in Erfolgszeiten ansammelt u. als Reserve für Krisenzeiten dient. * * * Slack  … …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Slack — 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • slack — Ⅰ. slack [1] ► ADJECTIVE 1) not taut or held tightly in position; loose. 2) (of business or trade) not busy; quiet. 3) careless, lazy, or negligent. 4) (of a tide) neither ebbing nor flowing. ► NOUN 1) …   English terms dictionary

  • slack — [adj1] loose, baggy; inactive dull, easy, feeble, flabby, flaccid, flexible, flimsy, inert, infirm, laggard, lax, leisurely, limp, not taut, passive, quaggy, quiet, relaxed, sloppy, slow, slow moving, sluggish, soft, supine, unsteady, weak;… …   New thesaurus

  • Slack — Slack, adv. Slackly; as, slack dried hops. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slack — Slack, n. The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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