slab
noun
a broad, flat, somewhat thick piece of stone, wood, or other solid material.
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then, before they had slabbed a depth of three times nine, they had got into water, and in this they worked for the next sixty feet.
From Australia Felix by Henry Handel Richardson