slash

[ slash ]

/ slæʃ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR slash ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to cut with a violent sweeping stroke or by striking violently and at random, as with a knife or sword.

to lash; whip.

to cut, reduce, or alter: The editors slashed the story to half its length.

to make slits in (a garment) to show an underlying fabric.

to criticize, censure, or attack in a savage or cutting manner.

verb (used without object)

to lay about one with sharp, sweeping strokes; make one's way by cutting.

to make a sweeping, cutting stroke.

noun

a sweeping stroke, as with a knife, sword, or pen.

a cut, wound, or mark made with such a stroke.

a curtailment, reduction, or alteration: a drastic slash of prices.

a decorative slit in a garment showing an underlying fabric.

a short oblique stroke (/) between two words indicating that whichever is appropriate may be chosen to complete the sense of the text in which they occur; a virgule: you and/or your dependents.
a dividing line, as in dates, fractions, a run-in passage of poetry to show verse division, etc.; a virgule: She got 3/4 of the answers correct. “Sweetest love, I do not go/For weariness of thee.” (John Donne)

Compare forward slash, backslash.

(in forest land)

an open area strewn with debris of trees from felling or from wind or fire.
the debris itself.

Slang. slash fiction.

Nearby words

slapped-cheek disease, slapper, slapshot, slapstick, slart, slash, slash and burn, slash fiction, slash pine, slash pocket, slash-and-burn

Origin of slash

1350–1400; Middle English slaschen < ?

SYNONYMS FOR slash

3 abridge, abbreviate.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR slash ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsun·slashed, adjective

Definition for slash (2 of 2)

slash

[ slash ]

/ slæʃ /

noun

Often slashes. a tract of wet or swampy ground overgrown with bushes or trees.

Origin of slash

An Americanism dating back to 1645–55; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for slash

For example, they slash the faces of female bar owners who refuse to pay protection money.
The Case of the Yakking Yakuza|Jake Adelstein|September 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“House Republicans slash funding that would help fight Ebola,” thundered Salon.
Progressive Bloggers Spread False Ebola Story|Tim Mak|September 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Another thing about planet tea party: Its occupants still want to slash government spending by massive amounts.
On Border, a Huge Win for the Hard Right|Michael Tomasky|August 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I would have added “no photographs of meditative politicians walking on the shore” with a slash though a silhouette of JFK.
Why I Hate The Beach|P. J. O’Rourke|July 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Police say he continued to stab and slash as he returned to the hallway, causing other students to stampede away from him.
Thank God the Murrysville School Attack Wasn’t Guns|Michael Daly|April 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"By science," said Miss Miniver, and hurried on, putting out a rhetorical hand that showed a slash of finger through its glove.
Ann Veronica|H. G. Wells
He is not himself at all and he is going to slash your tires if you pass that rope, Mr. Swiper.
Pee-wee Harris on the Trail|Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Weedon Scott had believed that he was quick enough to avoid any snap or slash.
White Fang|Jack London
Should they break through our barricades, slash at the horses with your scythes.
Micah Clarke|Arthur Conan Doyle
Powerful as a small tank, the killer robot was equipped to crush, slash, and burn its way through undergrowth.
Survival Tactics|Al Sevcik

British Dictionary definitions for slash

slash

/ (slæʃ) /

verb (tr)

to cut or lay about (a person or thing) with sharp sweeping strokes, as with a sword, knife, etc

to lash with a whip

to make large gashes into slash tyres

to reduce (prices, etc) drastically

mainly US to criticize harshly

to slit (the outer fabric of a garment) so that the lining material is revealed

to clear (scrub or undergrowth) by cutting

noun

a sharp, sweeping stroke, as with a sword or whip

a cut or rent made by such a stroke

a decorative slit in a garment revealing the lining material

US and Canadian

littered wood chips and broken branches that remain after trees have been cut down
an area so littered

Also called: diagonal, forward slash, separatrix, shilling mark, solidus, stroke, virgule a short oblique stroke used in text to separate items of information, such as days, months, and years in dates (18/7/80), alternative words (and/or), numerator from denominator in fractions (55/103), etc

British slang the act of urinating (esp in the phrase have a slash)

a genre of erotic fiction written by women, to appeal to women

Word Origin for slash

C14 slaschen, perhaps from Old French esclachier to break

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for slash (1 of 2)

slash

1540s, "to cut with a stroke of a blade or whip;" 1650s, "to strike violently," perhaps from Middle French esclachier "to break," variant of esclater "to break, splinter" (see slat). Meaning "to clear land" (of trees) is from 1821, American English. In reference to prices, it is attested from 1906. Related: Slashed; slashing. Slash-and-burn for a method of clearing forest for cultivation is from 1919.

Word Origin and History for slash (1 of 2)

slash

"a cutting stroke with a weapon," 1570s, from slash (v.); sense of "slit in a garment" is from 1610s; that of "open tract in a forest" is first attested 1825, American English. As a punctuation mark in writing or printing, it is recorded from 1961.

slash

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of slash

Definition for slash (2 of 2)

slash

noun

Origin of slash

Examples from the Web for slash

British Dictionary definitions for slash

slash

verb (tr)

noun

Word Origin for slash

Word Origin and History for slash (1 of 2)

slash

Word Origin and History for slash (1 of 2)

slash