slur

[slur] /slɜr/
verb (used with object), slurred, slurring.
1.
to pass over lightly or without due mention or consideration (often followed by over):
The report slurred over her contribution to the enterprise.
2.
to pronounce (a syllable, word, etc.) indistinctly by combining, reducing, or omitting sounds, as in hurried or careless utterance.
3.
to cast aspersions on; calumniate; disparage; depreciate:
The candidate was viciously slurred by his opponent.
4.
Music.
  1. to sing to a single syllable or play without a break (two or more tones of different pitch).
  2. to mark with a slur.
5.
Chiefly British Dialect. to smirch, sully, or stain.
verb (used without object), slurred, slurring.
6.
to read, speak, or sing hurriedly and carelessly.
noun
7.
a slurred utterance or sound.
8.
a disparaging remark or a slight:
quick to take offense at a slur.
9.
a blot or stain, as upon reputation:
a slur on his good name.
10.
Music.
  1. the combination of two or more tones of different pitch, sung to a single syllable or played without a break.
  2. a curved mark indicating this.
11.
Printing. a spot that is blurred or unclear as a result of paper, plate, or blanket slippage.
Origin
1595-1605; apparently of multiple orig.; in senses referring to a gliding or smooth transition, compare Low German slurren to shuffle, Dutch sleuren to trail, drag; in senses referring to a smirch or stain, compare Middle Dutch slore (Dutch sloor) sluttish woman
Related forms
unslurred, adjective
Synonyms
1. slight, disregard, gloss. 3. slander, asperse. 8. innuendo, insult, affront. 9. stigma, disgrace.
Antonyms
8. compliment.
Examples from the web for slur
  • Ironic that it is now being used a slur by right-wingers.
  • Then there is his fluency in the chat room, where written and spoken language slur together.
  • First of all the slur you voiced, mea culpa, shows me that you don't really want an answer.
  • Mendelsohn should apologize unconditionally for a slur that is as serious as he himself takes it to be.
  • It seemed to cast a slur on the husband and implied that he wasn't capable of keeping you.
  • Will made an failed attempt to be brilliantly clever with an oblique slur.
British Dictionary definitions for slur

slur

/slɜː/
verb (mainly transitive) slurs, slurring, slurred
1.
(often foll by over) to treat superficially, hastily, or without due deliberation; gloss
2.
(also intransitive) to pronounce or utter (words, etc) indistinctly
3.
to speak disparagingly of or cast aspersions on
4.
(music) to execute (a melodic interval of two or more notes) smoothly, as in legato performance
5.
(also intransitive) to blur or smear
6.
(archaic) to stain or smear; sully
noun
7.
an indistinct sound or utterance
8.
a slighting remark; aspersion
9.
a stain or disgrace, as upon one's reputation; stigma
10.
(music)
  1. a performance or execution of a melodic interval of two or more notes in a part
  2. the curved line (⌢ or ⌣) indicating this
11.
a blur or smear
Word Origin
C15: probably from Middle Low German; compare Middle Low German slūren to drag, trail, Middle Dutch sloren, Dutch sleuren
Word Origin and History for slur
n.

"deliberate slight, disparaging or slighting remark," c.1600, from dialectal slur "thin or fluid mud," from Middle English slore (mid-15c.), cognate with Middle Low German sluren, Middle Dutch sloren "to trail in mud." Related to East Frisian sluren "to go about carelessly," Norwegian slora "to be careless." Literal sense of "a mark, stain, smear" is from 1660s in English. The musical sense (1746) is from the notion of "sliding." Meaning "act or habit of slurring" in speech is from 1882.

v.

c.1600, "smear, soil by smearing," from slur (n.). Meaning "disparage depreciate" is from 1650s. In music, from 1746; of speech, from 1893. Related: Slurred; slurring.