slack

pronunciation

How to pronounce slack in British English: UK [slæk] word uk audio image

How to pronounce slack in American English: US [slæk] word us audio image

Noun:

dust consisting of a mixture of small coal fragments and coal dust and dirt that sifts out when coal is passed over a sieve
a noticeable deterioration in performance or quality
a stretch of water without current or movement
the condition of being loose (not taut)
a cord or rope or cable that is hanging loosely
Verb:

avoid responsibilities and work, be idle
be inattentive to, or neglect
release tension on
make less active or fast
become slow or slower
make less active or intense
become less in amount or intensity
cause to heat and crumble by treatment with water
Adjective:

not tense or taut
lacking in strength or firmness or resilience
flowing with little speed as e.g. at the turning of the tide
lacking in rigor or strictness

Word Origin

slack: slack: [OE] In common with Dutch and Swedish slak, slack comes from a prehistoric Germanic *slakaz. This was derived from the same ultimate source that produced Latin laxus ‘loose’ (source of English lax, relax, release, and relish) and languēre ‘languish’ (source of English languish). The plural noun slacks was first used for ‘trousers’ in the early 19th century. (The noun slack ‘small pieces of coal’ [15] is a different word, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch slacke ‘waste produced by smelting metal’.)=> languish, lax, relax, release, relinquish

slack (n.2): "coal dust," mid-15c., sleck, of uncertain origin, probably related to Middle Dutch slacke, Middle Low German slecke "slag, small pieces left after coal is screened," perhaps related to slagge "splinter flying off metal when it is struck" (see slag (n.)).

slack (adj.): Old English slæc "remiss, lax, characterized by lack of energy, sluggish, indolent, languid; slow, gentle, easy," from Proto-Germanic *slakas (cognates: Old Saxon slak, Old Norse slakr, Old High German slah "slack," Middle Dutch lac "fault, lack"), from PIE root *(s)leg- "to be slack" (see lax). Sense of "not tight" (in reference to things) is first recorded c. 1300. As an adverb from late 14c. Slack-key (1975) translates Hawaiian ki ho'alu. Slack water (n.) "time when tide is not flowing" is from 1769. Slack-handed "remiss" is from 1670s. Slack-baked "baked imperfectly, half-baked" is from 1823; figuratively from 1840.

slack (n.1): early 14c., "cessation" (of pain, grief, etc.), from slack (adj.). Meaning "a cessation of flow in a current or tide" is from 1756; that of "still stretch of a river" is from 1825. Meaning "loose part or end" (of a rope, sail, etc.) is from 1794; hence figurative senses in take up the slack (1930 figuratively) and slang cut (someone) some slack (1968). Meaning "quiet period, lull" is from 1851. Slacks "loose trousers" first recorded 1824, originally military.

slack (v.): 1510s, "to moderate, make slack," back-formed from slack (adj.) after the original verb veered into the specialized sense of slake. Meaning "be remiss, inactive or idle, fail to exert oneself" is attested from 1540s; current use is probably a re-coining from c. 1904 (see slacker, and compare Old English slacful "lazy," sleacmodnes "laziness"). Related: Slacked; slacking.

1. That should help hotels pick up slack left over from the pre-olympic building boom .

2. When construction , exports and investment plunged , nothing could take up the slack .