slash

¹

[ slash ]

verb (used with object)

1. to cut with a violent sweeping stroke or by striking violently and at random, as with a knife or sword.
2. to lash; whip.
3. to cut, reduce, or alter:

   The editors slashed the story to half its length.

   Synonyms: abbreviate, abridge

4. to make slits in (a garment) to show an underlying fabric.
5. to criticize, censure, or attack in a savage or cutting manner.

verb (used without object)

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

noun

1. a sweeping stroke, as with a knife, sword, or pen.
2. a cut, wound, or mark made with such a stroke.
3. a curtailment, reduction, or alteration:

   a drastic slash of prices.

4. a decorative slit in a garment showing an underlying fabric.
5. Compare forward slash ( def ), backslash ( def ).
   1. 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.

   2. 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)

6. (in forest land)
   1. an open area strewn with debris of trees from felling or from wind or fire.
   2. the debris itself.
7. Slang. slash fiction ( def ).

slash

²

[ slash ]

noun

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

slash

/ slæʃ /

verb

1. to cut or lay about (a person or thing) with sharp sweeping strokes, as with a sword, knife, etc
2. to lash with a whip
3. to make large gashes in

   to slash tyres

4. to reduce (prices, etc) drastically
5. to criticize harshly
6. to slit (the outer fabric of a garment) so that the lining material is revealed
7. to clear (scrub or undergrowth) by cutting

noun

1. a sharp, sweeping stroke, as with a sword or whip
2. a cut or rent made by such a stroke
3. a decorative slit in a garment revealing the lining material
4. 1. littered wood chips and broken branches that remain after trees have been cut down
   2. an area so littered
5. Also calleddiagonalforward slashseparatrixshilling marksolidusstrokevirgule 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
6. slang.
   the act of urinating (esp in the phrase have a slash )
7. a genre of erotic fiction written by women, to appeal to women

Other Words From

• un·slashed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of slash¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English slaschen, perhaps from Old French esclachier “to break”

Origin of slash²

An Americanism dating back to 1645–55; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of slash¹

C14 slaschen, perhaps from Old French esclachier to break

Example Sentences

Diced apples and walnuts go into the mutaki, whose filling you can spy through the slashes made in the baked dough, curved as a Slinky toy.

From Washington Post

By default, Shopify automatically ends URLs without a trailing slash, but variations of the same URL with a trailing slash are accessible to both users and search engines.

From Search Engine Watch

This can normally be avoided by enforcing a site-wide trailing slash redirect via the website’s htaccess file, but Shopify does not allow access to the htaccess file.

From Search Engine Watch

Google treats URLs with and without a trailing slash as unique pages.

From Search Engine Watch

Slough Creek is regarded as one of the best anywhere for the distinctive cutthroat trout, with its red slash on the lower jaw.

From Washington Post

The young man weaves through clusters of bamboo and cuts a diagonal slash into a tree, positioning a hollow log at the end.

From The Daily Beast

For example, they slash the faces of female bar owners who refuse to pay protection money.

From The Daily Beast

“House Republicans slash funding that would help fight Ebola,” thundered Salon.

From The Daily Beast

Another thing about planet tea party: Its occupants still want to slash government spending by massive amounts.

From The Daily Beast

I would have added “no photographs of meditative politicians walking on the shore” with a slash though a silhouette of JFK.

From The Daily Beast

It was shrill, it was penetrating, it rose and fell with a sort of ripping, tearing slash.

From Project Gutenberg

Well, by and by an adder bit a knight's heel; the knight forgot all about the order, and made a slash at the adder with his sword.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a female, somewhat smaller than the ones Kieran had fought with, and having a slash of white on the throat and chest.

From Project Gutenberg

The president, the vice-presidents, and the stewards were to have three buttons on a slash cuff, and to wear blue pantaloons.

From Project Gutenberg

I left them as they were, and busied myself with rooting out undeniable weeds and carting off the slash and rubbish.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• curtail
• cut
• cut back
• cut down
• drop
• hack
• lower
• pare
• shave
• shorten