slat

See also: slať, slät, and slặt

English

Etymology

Old French esclat. Doublet of slate and éclat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slæt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æt

Noun

slat (plural slats)

1. A thin, narrow strip or bar of wood (lath), metal, or plastic.

   slats of a window blind

   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 208:

     To keep people out, the Nature Conservancy, which owns the cave, has blocked off the entrance with huge iron slats.

2. (aviation) A control surface that extends forwards and downwards from the leading edge of a wing, leaving a gap between it and the leading edge, in order to modify the airflow around the wing so as to allow flight at a higher angle of attack without stalling, lowering the aircraft's stall speed.
3. (skiing, slang) A ski.
   • 2005, Richard V. Shriver, Gold to Refine, page 31:

     I never got down that hill without losing at least one of my skis! Clarence didn't lose his slats. The straps went over his boots and held them in place. If he fell, he risked breaking a foot or leg, but the slats stayed on.

4. A thin piece of stone; a slate.

Derived terms

• slatback
• slatless

Translations

thin, narrow strip

• Bulgarian: летва (bg) f (letva)
• Dutch: lamel (nl)
• Finnish: säle (fi)
• French: palette (fr) f, lamelle (fr) f
• Galician: listón m, lata (gl) f, lamela (gl) f
• German: Leiste (de) f, Streifen (de) m, Lamelle (de) f
• Hungarian: redőnyléc, léc (hu), zsalugáterléc, lap (hu)
• Italian: barra (it) f, stanga (it) f, stecca (it) f
• Maori: porohanga
• Russian: пла́нка (ru) f (plánka), пласти́нка (ru) f (plastínka)

aeronautical: moveable control surface at the leading edge of a wing

• Finnish: etureunasolakko (fi), solakko (fi)
• French: dispositif hypersustentateur m, bec à fente commandé m
• German: Vorflügel m
• Italian: ipersostentatore (it) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} سديبَة
• French: ^{(please verify)} pale (fr)

Verb

slat (third-person singular simple present slats, present participle slatting, simple past and past participle slatted)

1. To construct or provide with slats.
2. To slap or strike; to beat, pummel; to hurl or throw down violently.
   • c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iii:

     Men[dozo]. How did you kill him? / Mal[evole]. Slatted his braines out, then ſowſt him in the brinie ſea. / Men. Braind him and drownd him too?

3. (British, dialectal) To split; to crack.
   • 1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, translated by Philemon Holland, The Roman Historie, […], London: […] Adam Jslip, →OCLC:

     Both head-peeces and habergeons were slat and dashed a peeces.

4. To set on; to incite.

Translations

to construct with slats

• Finnish: tehdä säleikkö

Anagrams

• Alts, LTAs, SALT, Salt, TLAs, alts, last, lats, salt

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish slat, from Proto-Celtic *slattā (“stalk, staff”). Cognate with Welsh llath.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /sˠl̪ˠɑt̪ˠ/
• (Aran) IPA^(key): /sˠlɑt̪ˠ/
• (Connemara, Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /sˠl̪ˠat̪ˠ/

Noun

slat f (genitive singular slaite, nominative plural slata or slatacha)

1. rod, slender stick

   Synonyms: bata, maide

2. cane, switch

   Synonym: cána

3. wand
4. slender bar, rod
5. rail
6. sapling, slip, scion
7. (anatomy) penis

   Synonym: bod

8. (measurement) yard

   Synonym: cleith

9. (in the plural) outskirts

Declension

Declension of slat

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative slat slata Vocative a shlat a shlata Genitive slaite slat Dative slat slait (archaic, dialectal) slata

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an tslat na slata Genitive na slaite na slat Dative leis an tslat leis an tslait (archaic, dialectal) don tslat don tslait (archaic, dialectal) leis na slata

• Alternative strong plural form: slatacha

Derived terms

• slata Napier
• slat bhrataí (“jack-staff”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
slat	shlat after an, tslat	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 79
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “slat”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Old English

Verb

slāt

1. first/third-person singular preterite of slītan

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish slat, from Proto-Celtic *slattā (“stalk, staff”). Cognate with Welsh llath.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sˠl̪ˠaht/

Noun

slat f (genitive singular slait or slaite, plural slatan)

1. stick, rod, twig, switch, wand
2. yard (unit of length)
3. (vulgar, slang, anatomy) penis

Declension

Declension of slat (class IIa feminine noun)

Indefinite
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	slat	slatan
Genitive	slaite, slait	shlat
Dative	slait	slatan; slataibh*
Definite
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	(an) t-slat	(na) slatan
Genitive	(na) slaite, slait	(nan) slat
Dative	(an) t-slait	(na) slatan; slataibh*
Vocative	(a) shlat	(a) shlata

*obsolete form, was used until the 19th century

Derived terms

• iadh-shlat
• slat-tomhais

See also

• mìle (“mile”)
• òirleach (“inch”)
• troigh (“foot”)

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
slat	shlat after "an", t-slat
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.