slew
1 Americanverb
noun
verb
-
to twist or be twisted sideways, esp awkwardly
he slewed around in his chair
-
nautical to cause (a mast) to rotate in its step or (of a mast) to rotate in its step
noun
verb
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of slew
1830–40, < Irish sluagh crowd, throng, army, host
Explanation
Of all the many nouns referring to a large group of things, one of the most fun is slew, as in "I saw a whole slew of birds in the tree by the river." American English is constantly evolving, its richness coming from the many languages feeding into it. The noun slew, for instance, is from the Irish Gaelic sluagh, meaning "multitude." As an unrelated verb, it's the past tense of slay.
Vocabulary lists containing slew
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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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.
A slew of companies pursuing various approaches to quantum are slated to be awarded funds, including publicly traded firms D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing and Infleqtion.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
Notably, the movie omitted the slew of allegations that followed Jackson from the ’90s until his death in 2009.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
Sir Keir focused on tackling the cost of living at PMQs on Wednesday, part of a slew of announcements Downing Street has been making since his reset speech on Monday last week.
From BBC • May 20, 2026
And while Trump left Beijing with few concrete announcements, Xi and Putin signed a slew of agreements on trade, media, and energy.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
The boy had come from nowhere and been a slew of trouble since.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
