slater
noun
a person who lays slates, as for roofing.
slater
1 American
[sley-ter]
/ ˈsleɪ tər /
noun
-
slaters
plural
Slater
2
American
[sley-ter]
/ ˈsleɪ tər /
noun
slater
British
/ ˈsleɪtə /
noun
-
a person trained in laying roof slates
-
dialect a woodlouse See also sea slater
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of slater
First recorded in 1375–1425, slater is from the late Middle English word sclater. See slate 1, -er 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Louise recounts a slater called John McWilliam, who fled to Stranraer after being accused of witchcraft for a second time, before going on trial in Edinburgh.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2025
He promised an updated list, but more than six month slater, it has yet to appear.
From BBC ● May 26, 2025
The slater who meets his death through accident stands before the world as an honest man—honest as the soldier who dies on the battle-field.
From The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 09 Friedrich Hebbel and Otto Ludwig by Various
Thus, from tower-roof where he doth clamber, Calls out the slater; and with him the small big man, Jack Metaphysicus, down in his writing-chamber!
From Rampolli by George MacDonald
We don't want the public to think the fisher is a more deserving man than the slater; we want both men to have a fair chance.
From A Dream of the North Sea by James Runciman
At one point, Trump turned to his lawyer and said of Slater, “I don’t know what you’re worried about, Boris. She seems great.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Left tackle Rashawn Slater is dealing with a flare up of his surgically repaired knee and missed practices this week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It’s a given that Biadasz will start at center, Cole Strange at right guard, Joe Alt at right tackle and Rashawn Slater at left tackle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Boyd Slater from Reclaim the Night said people need to embrace venues like these.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
I'd been worried I might get choked up at the Slater funeral, turn it into some sort of personal weep-fest for all the people who’d checked out on me over the last eight months.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
The first firefighters were recruited from tradesmen including slaters, carpenters and masons, aged 17 to 25, because they knew how buildings were constructed.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2024
Bricklayers, masons, roofers, roof tilers, slaters, carpenters, joiners and plasterers will benefit from cheaper visas and more relaxed employment criteria under the changes.
From Reuters ● Jul. 17, 2023
And now that I am a contractor I can understand how it is possible to spend several days hunting through the town for slaters to carry out a trifling order.
From The House with the Mezzanine and Other Stories by Gilbert Cannan
Here, too, is a curious little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hand, with lithotypes of the hands of slaters, sailors, corkcutters, compositors, weavers, and diamond-polishers.
From The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It appeared that when a party of slaters were engaged upon a roof, they would now and then be taken with a fancy for the public-house.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 2 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
