slab

¹

[slab]

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.

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

[slab]

adjective

Scot. and North England.

1. thick; viscous.

slab

/ 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

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)

Word History and Origins

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of slab¹

C13: of unknown origin

Example Sentences

The memorial for the enslaved lies in the distance, in a slab of concrete.

Read more on Literature

But at the press conference, Nguyen ticked off the failings of the unfinished memorial — upright black slabs that are mostly blank and show visible cracks — and noted the scandal behind it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“It’s not like a cute little fuzzy pig or anything, but it’s like a cute little fuzzy tempeh slab,” said Crain.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Rockfalls on a narrow rocky path that clings to the side of a giant slab of dolerite rock are, unsurprisingly, not a new issue.

Read more on BBC

They began replacing the barbed wire fences with permanent slabs of concrete.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

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