slack1

[slak] /slæk/
adjective
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.
Nautical, easy (def 15a).
adverb
8.
in a slack manner.
noun
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.
Geography. 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.
Prosody. (in sprung rhythm) the unaccented syllable or syllables.
16.
British Dialect. a morass; marshy ground; a hollow or dell with soft, wet ground at the bottom.
verb (used with object)
17.
to be remiss in respect to (some matter, duty, right, etc.); shirk; leave undone:
He slacked the most important part.
18.
to make or allow to become less active, vigorous, intense, etc.; relax (efforts, labor, speed, etc.); lessen; moderate (often followed by up).
19.
to make loose, or less tense or taut, as a rope; loosen (often followed by off or out).
20.
to slake (lime).
verb (used without object)
21.
to be remiss; shirk one's duty or part.
22.
to become less active, vigorous, rapid, etc. (often followed by up):
Business is slacking up.
23.
to become less tense or taut, as a rope; to ease off.
24.
to become slaked, as lime.
Idioms
25.
take up the slack,
  1. to pull in or make taut a loose section of a rope, line, wire, etc.:
    Take up the slack before releasing the kite.
  2. to provide or compensate for something that is missing or incomplete:
    New sources of oil will take up the slack resulting from the embargo.
Origin
before 900; Middle English slac (adj.), Old English sleac, slæc; cognate with Old Norse slakr, Old High German slach, Latin laxus lax
Related forms
slackingly, adverb
slackly, adverb
slackness, noun
unslacked, adjective
unslacking, adjective
Synonyms
1. relaxed. 2. lazy, weak. 3. dilatory, tardy, late. 4. idle, quiet. 11. slowing, relaxation. 17. neglect. 18. reduce, slacken. 21. malinger.

slack2

[slak] /slæk/
noun
1.
the fine screenings of coal.
Origin
1400-50; late Middle English sleck < Middle Dutch slacke, slecke
Examples from the web for slack
  • These pants are a little loose, however there is a handy drawstring to take up the slack.
  • Tape the rubber band's loose end to the housing, eliminating slack.
  • Good teachers understand that there are times to teach students valuable life lessons and times to cut them some slack.
  • With public spending shrinking the private sector has a lot of slack to take up.
  • At slack tide, the water quiets enough for us to take the plunge.
  • Not every spot will have spiders to take up the slack.
  • slack is interested in caves because they're home to bats.
  • Those wavy patterns hinted that cells might be growing faster at the edges, similar to adding slack to a rope.
  • There is a strong argument that the slack labor market of a recession actually makes unions all the more important.
  • There are precious few signs government spending can recede and business will take up the slack.
British Dictionary definitions for slack

slack1

/slæk/
adjective
1.
not tight, tense, or taut
2.
negligent or careless
3.
(esp of water, etc) moving slowly
4.
(of trade, etc) not busy
5.
(phonetics) another term for lax (sense 4)
adverb
6.
in a slack manner
noun
7.
a part of a rope, etc, that is slack: take in the slack
8.
a period of decreased activity
9.
  1. a patch of water without current
  2. a slackening of a current
10.
(prosody) (in sprung rhythm) the unstressed syllable or syllables
verb
11.
to neglect (one's duty, etc)
12.
(often foll by off) to loosen; to make slack
13.
(chem) a less common word for slake (sense 3)
See also slacks
Derived Forms
slackly, adverb
slackness, noun
Word Origin
Old English slæc, sleac; related to Old High German slah, Old Norse slākr bad, Latin laxuslax

slack2

/slæk/
noun
1.
small pieces of coal with a high ash content
Word Origin
C15: probably from Middle Low German slecke; related to Dutch slak, German Schlacke dross
Word Origin and History for slack
adj.

Old English slæc "remiss, lax, characterized by lack of energy, sluggish, indolent, languid; slow, gentle, easy," from Proto-Germanic *slakas (cf. Old Saxon slak, Old Norse slakr, Old High German slah "slack," Middle Dutch lac "fault, lack"), from PIE root *(s)leg- "to be slack" (see lax).

Sense of "not tight" (in reference to things) is first recorded c.1300. As an adverb from late 14c. Slack-key (1975) translates Hawaiian ki ho'alu. Slack water (n.) "time when tide is not flowing" is from 1769. Slack-handed "remiss" is from 1670s. Slack-baked "baked imperfectly, half-baked" is from 1823; figuratively from 1840.

n.

early 14c., "cessation" (of pain, grief, etc.), from slack (adj.). Meaning "a cessation of flow in a current or tide" is from 1756; that of "still stretch of a river" is from 1825. Meaning "loose part or end" (of a rope, sail, etc.) is from 1794; hence figurative senses in take up the slack (1930 figuratively) and slang cut (someone) some slack (1968). Meaning "quiet period, lull" is from 1851. Slacks "loose trousers" first recorded 1824, originally military.

"coal dust," mid-15c., sleck, of uncertain origin, probably related to Middle Dutch slacke, Middle Low German slecke "slag, small pieces left after coal is screened," perhaps related to slagge "splinter flying off metal when it is struck" (see slag (n.)).

v.

1510s, "to moderate, make slack," back-formed from slack (adj.) after the original verb veered into the specialized sense of slake. Meaning "be remiss, inactive or idle, fail to exert oneself" is attested from 1540s; current use is probably a re-coining from c.1904 (see slacker, and cf. Old English slacful "lazy," sleacmodnes "laziness"). Related: Slacked; slacking.

Slang definitions & phrases for slack

slack

noun

A period of inertness or decreased activity: He'd pulled his weight long enough to get some slack/ a channel surfer trapped in his own den of slack (1851+)

verb

: Witness the 40,000 or so Americans here now, a lot of them teaching English or just slacking, drinking 50-cent beers in the pubs, grooving to acid jazz at the Roxy


slack in Technology


1. Internal fragmentation. Space allocated to a disk file but not actually used to store useful information.
2. In the theology of the Church of the SubGenius, a mystical substance or quality that is the prerequisite of all human happiness.
Since Unix files are stored compactly, except for the unavoidable wastage in the last block or fragment, it might be said that "Unix has no slack".
See ha ha only serious.
[Jargon File]
(1995-03-01)