Wiktionary

slash

See also: stash

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Possibly from French esclachier (“to break”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.

Noun

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slash (plural slashes)

 
Sense 4
  1. A slashing action or motion:
    1. A swift, broad, cutting stroke, especially one made with an edged weapon or whip.
      A slash of his blade just missed my ear.
    2. (sports) A wide striking motion made with an implement such as a cricket bat, hockey stick, or lacrosse stick.
      He took a wild slash at the ball but the captain saved the team's skin by hacking it clear and setting up the team for a strike on the goal.
    3. (figuratively) A sharp reduction in resources allotted.
      After the war ended, the army saw a 50% slash in their operating budget.
  2. A mark made by slashing:
    1. A deep cut or laceration, as made by an edged weapon or whip.
      He was bleeding from a slash across his cheek.
    2. (botany) A deep taper-pointed incision in a plant.
  3. Something resembling such a mark:
    1. (fashion) A slit in an outer garment, usually exposing a lining or inner garment of a contrasting color or design.
    2. (US and Canada) A clearing in a forest, particularly one made by logging, fire, or other violent action.
      • 1895, Henry Van Dyke, Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness:
        We passed over the shoulder of a ridge and around the edge of a fire slash, and then we had the mountain fairly before us.
    3. (originally US, typography) The slash mark: the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩.
      • 1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240:
        Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like slant, slant line, slash, and slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as diagonal and diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation oblique.
      1. (often proscribed) Any similar typographical mark, such as the backslash ⟨\⟩.
    4. (vulgar, slang) The vulva.
  4. (US and Canada) The loose woody debris remaining from a slash; the trimmings left while preparing felled trees for removal.
    Slash generated during logging may constitute a fire hazard.
  5. (fandom slang) Slash fiction; fan fiction focused on homoerotic pairing of fictional characters.
    • 2013, Katherine Arcement, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 5:
      Comments merely allow readers to proclaim themselves mortally offended by the content of a story, despite having been warned in large block letters of INCEST or SLASH (any kind of sex between two men or two women: the term originated with the Kirk/Spock pairing – it described the literal slash between their names).
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Hypernyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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slash fiction — see slash fiction
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
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Punctuation

Verb

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slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

  1. To cut or attempt to cut, particularly:
    1. To cut with a swift broad stroke of an edged weapon.
      They slashed at him with their swords, but only managed to nick one of his fingers.
      She hacked and slashed her way across the jungle.
    2. To produce a similar wound with a savage strike of a whip.
    3. (ice hockey) To strike swiftly and laterally with a hockey stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.
    4. (figuratively) To reduce sharply.
      Competition forced them to slash prices.
      Profits are only up right now because they slashed overhead, but employee morale and product quality have collapsed too.
    5. (fashion) To create slashes in a garment.
    6. (figuratively) To criticize cuttingly.
  2. To strike violently and randomly, particularly:
    1. (cricket) To swing wildly at the ball.
  3. To move quickly and violently.
  4. To crack a whip with a slashing motion.
  5. (US, Canada) To clear land, (particularly forestry) with violent action such as logging or brushfires or (agriculture, uncommon) through grazing.
    The province's traditional slash-and-burn agriculture was only sustainable with a much smaller population.
  6. (intransitive, fandom slang) To write slash fiction.
Synonyms
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Coordinate terms
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  • (slash fiction): ship
Derived terms
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Translations
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Adverb

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slash (not comparable)

  1. Used to note the sound or action of a slash.

Conjunction

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slash

  1. (Canada, US) Used to connect two or more identities in a list.
    Saul Hudson is a famous musician/songwriter.
    • 2001, Drake Sather, Ben Stiller, John Hamburg, Zoolander, spoken by Fabio Lanzoni:
      What this, the Slashie, means is that you consider me the best actor slash model and not the other way around.
    • 2022 October 2, Tom Phillips, “‘A day of hope’: Lula fans eager to see Bolsonaro defeated”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      “It’s been a joke-slash-tragedy,” the restaurant host, 29, said of the president’s tumultuous far-right administration as she cast her vote against him in her country’s most important election in decades.
  2. (Canada, US) Used to list alternatives.
    Alternatives can be marked by the slash/stroke/solidus punctuation mark, a tall, right-slanting oblique line.
    Read: Alternatives can be marked by the slash-slash-stroke-slash-solidus punctuation mark, a tall, right-slanting oblique line.
Usage notes
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Typically written with the slash mark ⟨/⟩ and only spoken or transcribed as the word "slash". Often omitted from speech and only marked as a brief pause between the alternatives. Exclusively omitted in common constructions such as and/or, either/or, and washer/dryer.

Synonyms
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Further reading

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Etymology 2

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Uncertain. Compare Scots slash (“large splash”), possibly from Old French esclache. Slang use for urination attested from the 1950s.

Noun

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slash (plural slashes)

  1. (obsolete, rare) A drink of something; a draft.
  2. (vulgar, UK, slang) A piss: an act of urination.
    Where's the gents? I need to take a slash.
  3. (vulgar, UK, slang, rare) Urine.
    That bus shelter smells of slash.

Verb

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slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

  1. (UK, slang, intransitive) To piss, to urinate.
    • 1973, Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers,, page 189:
      If you can slash in my bed (I thought) don't tell me you can't suck my cock.
Translations
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Etymology 3

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Uncertain. Compare flash (“a marsh; a pool of water”) and British dialectal slashy (“wet and dirty, miry”).

Noun

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slash (plural slashes)

  1. (US) A swampy area; a swamp.
  2. (Scotland) A large quantity of watery food such as broth.

Verb

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slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

  1. (Scotland, intransitive) To work in wet conditions.

Etymology 4

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See slatch

Noun

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slash (plural slashes)

  1. (UK) Alternative form of slatch: a deep trough of finely-fractured culm or a circular or elliptical pocket of coal.

References

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  • Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed. "slash, v.¹ & v.²" & "slash, n.¹, n.², n.³, & n.⁴". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1911.

Anagrams

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English slash.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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slash n (plural slash-uri)

  1. slash (sign)

Declension

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Declension of slash
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) slash slashul (niște) slash-uri slash-urile
genitive/dative (unui) slash slashului (unor) slash-uri slash-urilor
vocative slashule slash-urilor

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /esˈlaʃ/ [esˈlaʃ]
  • Rhymes: -aʃ
  • Syllabification: slash

Noun

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slash m (plural slash or slashes)

  1. (punctuation) slash
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