slit

[slit]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR slit ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), slit, slit·ting.

to cut apart or open along a line; make a long cut, fissure, or opening in.

to cut or rend into strips; split.

noun

a straight, narrow cut, opening, or aperture.

Origin of slit

1175–1225; Middle English slitte (noun), slitten (v.); cognate with German schlitzen to split, slit; akin to Old English slite a slit, geslit a bite, slītan to split; see slice

Related formsslit·less, adjectiveslit·like, adjective

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

Related Words for slit

cleavage, crevice, fissure, incision, aperture, rip, slash, gash, breach, tear, rent, crack, cleft, hole, split, slot, pierce, slice, lance, incise

Examples from the Web for slit

Contemporary Examples of slit

Slice challah bread into 1.5 inches then slit hole in middle of each slice and fill with Nutella.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the Cinnabattleship
Harley Morenstein
July 26, 2014
His name was Alexander, and he had a rifle in his hands, but the eyes you could see through the slit in the mask looked friendly.
Held at Gunpoint by Ukraine Rebels
Anna Nemtsova
May 31, 2014
The opposite bank was manned by Germans, and in the darkness Deane-Drummond fell into a slit trench on top of a German soldier.
The Perfect Telegraph Obituary
David Frum
December 5, 2012
First the contrite-but-not-really Massa offered to slit his wrists on camera.
Beck and Massa's 5 Craziest Moments
The Daily Beast Video
March 9, 2010

Historical Examples of slit

Cut a slit in the shell of every one to prevent their bursting when hot.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
That slit had healed now, but the scar was always at his throat, and in both their hearts.
The Slave Of The Lamp
Henry Seton Merriman
I will have the canoe drawn up, and gently, but firmly, slit it with my knife.
One Day's Courtship
Robert Barr
A hand moved slowly around the slit—a hand that held a pencil-ray.
Pirates of the Gorm
Nat Schachner
The darkness then was slit by a hard straight line of white.
The Bluff of the Hawk
Anthony Gilmore

British Dictionary definitions for slit

slit

verb slits, slitting or slit (tr)

to make a straight long incision in; split open

to cut into strips lengthwise

to sever

noun

a long narrow cut

a long narrow opening

Derived Formsslitter, noun

Word Origin for slit

Old English slītan to slice; related to Old Norse slita, Old High German slīzen

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 slit

c.1200, from or related to Old English slitan "to slit, tear, split, rend to pieces; bite, sting; back-bite," from Proto-Germanic *slitan (cf. Old Saxon slitan, Old Frisian slita, Old Norse slita, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch sliten, Dutch slijten, Old High German slizan, German schleißen "to slit"). A more violent verb in Old English than after, e.g. slitcwealm "death by rending." Slit skirt is attested from 1913.A slitting-mill (1660s) cut iron plates into thin rods for making nails, etc.

mid-13c., "long cut or rent (in clothes), incision," from slit (v.). Slang sense of "vulva" is attested from 1640s. Old English had slit (n.) with a sense of "a rending, bite; backbiting."