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)
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
mainlyUSto 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, virgulea 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
Britishslangthe 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
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.
n.
"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.
