slur

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). Compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”). Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Related to dialect Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels).

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /slɜː(ɹ)/
Rhymes: -ɜː(r)

NounEdit

slur (plural slurs)

An insult or slight.
a racial slur
(music) A set of notes that are played legato, without separate articulation.
(music) The symbol indicating a legato passage, written as an arc over the slurred notes (not to be confused with a tie).
(obsolete) A trick or deception.
In knitting machines, a device for depressing the sinkers successively by passing over them.

TranslationsEdit

insult or slight

Finnish: herja (fi), loukkaus (fi)
French: insulte (fr) f, injure (fr) f
German: Verunglimpfung (de) f, Beleidigung (de) f
Maori: tīkai
Polish: oszczerstwo (pl) n, obelga (pl) f

Portuguese: insulto (pt)
Russian: клеветническое (klevetničeskoje) обвине́ние (obvinénije) (klevetníčeskoje obvinénije) n, оскорби́тельный (oskorbítelʹnyj) намёк (namjók) (oskorbítelʹnyj namjók) m, инсинуа́ция (ru) f (insinuácija)
Spanish: denigración (es) f, insulto (es) m
Turkish: hakaret (tr), aşağılama (tr)

set of notes

Finnish: legato-jakso

Maori: rōnaki

symbol indicating a legato passage

Dutch: legatoboog
Finnish: sidekaari, legato-kaari
French: liaison d'expression f, coulé (fr) m, legato (fr) m
German: Bindebogen m
Italian: legatura di portamento f, legatura di frase f, legatura di espressione f

Portuguese: ligadura f
Russian: лега́то (ru) n (legáto)
Scottish Gaelic: ceangal m
Spanish: legato (es) m, ligadura de expresión f
Swedish: bindebåge (sv)

VerbEdit

slur (third-person singular simple present slurs, present participle slurring, simple past and past participle slurred)

To insult or slight.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)
To run together; to articulate poorly.
to slur syllables; He slurs his speech when he is drunk.
- 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
  Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
(music) To play legato or without separate articulation; to connect (notes) smoothly.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Busby to this entry?)
To soil; to sully; to contaminate; to disgrace.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Cudworth to this entry?)
To cover over; to disguise; to conceal; to pass over lightly or with little notice.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
  With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.
To cheat, as by sliding a die; to trick.
- 1662, Samuel Butler, Hudibras
  to slur men of what they fought for
(printing, dated) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.