slab

¹ American  

[slab] / slæb /

noun

1. a broad, flat, somewhat thick piece of stone, wood, or other solid material.

2. a thick slice of anything.

   a slab of bread.

3. a semifinished piece of iron or steel so rolled that its breadth is at least twice its thickness.

4. a rough outside piece cut from a log, as when sawing one into boards.

5. Baseball Slang. rubber.

6. Building Trades. a section of concrete pavement or a concrete floor placed directly on the ground or on a base of gravel.

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verb (used with object)

slabbed, slabbing

1. to make into a slab or slabs.

2. to cover or lay with slabs.

3. to cut the slabs or outside pieces from (a log).

4. to put on in slabs; cover thickly.

slab ² American  

[slab] / slæb /

adjective

Scot. and North England.

1. thick; viscous.

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slab British  

/ slæb /

noun

1. a broad flat thick piece of wood, stone, or other material

2. a thick slice of cake, etc

3. any of the outside parts of a log that are sawn off while the log is being made into planks

4. mountaineering a flat sheet of rock lying at an angle of between 30° and 60° from the horizontal

5. a printer's ink table

6. (modifier) made or constructed of coarse wooden planks

   a slab hut

7. informal an operating or mortuary table

8. informal a package containing 24 cans of beer

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verb

1. to cut or make into a slab or slabs

2. to cover or lay with slabs

3. to saw slabs from (a log)

Etymology

Origin of slab¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun slab(be), sclabbe; further origin unknown

Origin of slab²

First recorded in 1595–1605; apparently from Scandinavian; compare Swedish, Norwegian slabb “mire,” Danish slab “mud,” Icelandic slabba “to wade in mud”

Explanation

A slab is a great big thick piece of something. Your backyard patio, for example, might be made of a huge slab of concrete. A sidewalk is often composed of one cement slab after another — these are sometimes called paving slabs. You could refer to large pieces of stone or wood as slabs too. Even your lunch might be a slab, if it's a thick hunk of cheesy pizza or a huge slab of bread slathered with peanut butter. The origins of the word slab are unknown, though we do know it's been around since the thirteenth century.

Example Sentences

A slab of sedimentary rock was covered in a wrinkled texture that looked strikingly like elephant skin.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

It arrives in a thick, architectural slab, edges bronzed, interior plush but disciplined.

From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026

With that careful pull, the slab compressed together, suddenly stood up, and took on the shape of a tiny, curvy, modernist-style chair.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026

One potentially distracting difference between the surfaces: you don’t catch your own reflection in a slab of stone or see what’s going on behind it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

It’s just her name and the year she graduated etched into a brass rectangle glued to a dark slab of wood.

From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein

Related Words

• hunk
• ingot
• lump
• piece
• plate
• rod
• slice
• stone
• strip
• wedge