A slew of SLEW
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definitions
slew
slew1
[sloo]
Synonyms Examples
Word Origin
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verb
1.
simple past tense of
slay.
slew2or slue
[sloo]
noun, Informal.
1.
a large number or
quantity:
a whole slew of
people.
Origin of slew2
Irish Americanism;
< Irish sluagh crowd, throng, army, host
slew3
[sloo]
verb (used with or without object), noun
1.
slue1.
slew4
[sloo]
noun, U.S., Canadian.
1.
slough1(def 3).
slay
[sley]
verb (used with object), slew or slayed,
(especially for def 4); slain; slaying.
1.
to kill by violence.
2.
to destroy;
extinguish.
3.
sley.
4.
Slang.
to impress strongly;
overwhelm, especially by humor:
Your jokes slay me.
to make a strong
impression with:
She really slayed
her performance last night.
5.
Obsolete. to strike.
verb (used without
object), slew or slayed, (especially for def 7); slain; slaying.
6.
to kill or murder.
7.
Slang. to strongly
impress or overwhelm someone:
His whole album
slays.
noun
8.
sley.
Origin before 900;
Middle English sleen, slayn, Old English slēan; cognate with Dutch slaan,
German schlagen, Old Norse slā, Gothic slahan “to strike, beat”
Related forms
slayable, adjective
slayer, noun
unslayable,
adjective
Synonyms
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1. murder,
slaughter, massacre, butcher, assassinate. 2. annihilate, ruin.
slue1or slew
[sloo]
verb (used with object), slued, sluing.
1.
to turn (a mast or
other spar) around on its own axis, or without removing it from its place.
2.
to swing around.
verb (used without
object), slued, sluing.
3.
to turn about; swing
around.
noun
4.
the act of sluing.
5.
a position slued to.
Origin
First recorded in
1760-70; origin uncertain
sleyor slay, sleigh
[sley]
noun, plural sleys.
1.
the reed of a loom.
2.
the warp count in
woven fabrics.
3.
British. the lay of
a loom.
verb (used with object)
4.
to draw (warp ends)
through the heddle eyes of the harness or through the dents of the reed in
accordance with a given plan for weaving a fabric.
Origin
before 1050; Middle
English sleye, Old English slege weaver's reed; akin to Dutch slag, German
Schlag, Old Norse slag, Gothic slahs a blow; see slay
Based on the Random
House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.
Cite This Source
Examples from the Web for slew
Contemporary Examples
He says device
makers also will have to meet a slew of security requirements: Can the device
be encrypted?
How Your Pacemaker
Will Get Hacked
Kaiser Health News
November 16, 2014
Between her slew of
appointments, Lennox manages to squeeze in enough time for no less than 40
different charities.
Annie Lennox Doesn’t
Give a Damn What You Think
Itay Hod
October 20, 2014
Apparently, Minaj
received a slew of offensive tweets and rude Instagram comments in response to
the racy image.
Beyoncé’s ‘Flawless’
Lyrics Tease Her Elevator Drama with Jay Z
Amy Zimmerman
August 4, 2014
Afterwards, a slew
of major NBA reporters did their best to quell the giddy, growing mob.
LeBron James Returns
to Cleveland: How 'The Decision 2.0' Happened
Robert Silverman
July 10, 2014
The park
administration has embarked on a slew of tourist-luring projects.
Can Gorillas Save
the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Nina Strochlic
April 27, 2014
Historical Examples
I strained a sinew
on the day that I slew the three men at Castelnau.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
Therefore your lives
are justly forfeit, and none would blame us if we slew you.
Fair Margaret
H. Rider Haggard
He was my father,
Sire, and I saw him slain—aye, and slew the slayer.
Fair Margaret
H. Rider Haggard
The hound fell
without a sound, and with equal ease he slew the second.
The Rock of
Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
So they drove off
the best of the cattle of the Sun and slew them.
Old Greek Folk
Stories Told Anew
Josephine Preston
Peabody
British Dictionary definitions for slew
slew1
/sluː/
verb
1.
the past tense of
slay
slew2
/sluː/
verb
1.
to twist or be
twisted sideways, esp awkwardly: he slewed around in his chair
2.
(nautical) to cause
(a mast) to rotate in its step or (of a mast) to rotate in its step
noun
3.
the act of slewing
Word Origin
C18: of unknown
origin
slew3
/sluː/
noun
1.
a variant spelling
(esp US) of slough1(sense 2)
slew4
/sluː/
noun
1.
(informal, mainly US
& Canadian) a great number or amount; a lot
Word Origin
C20: from Irish
Gaelic sluagh; related to Old Irish slōg army
slue1
/sluː/
noun, verb
1.
a variant spelling
(esp US) of slew2
slue2
/sluː/
noun
1.
a variant spelling
of slough1(sense 2)
slue3
/sluː/
noun
1.
(US, informal) a
variant spelling of slew4
slay
/sleɪ/
verb (transitive) slays, slaying, slew, slain
1.
(archaic or
literary) to kill, esp violently
2.
(slang) to impress
(someone) sexually
3.
(obsolete) to strike
Derived Forms
slayer, noun
Word Origin
Old English slēan;
related to Old Norse slā, Gothic, Old High German slahan to strike, Old Irish
slacaim I beat
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
Cite This Source
Word Origin and History for slew
n.1
"swampy
place," 1708, North American variant of slough.
v.
"to turn,
swing, twist," 1834, earlier slue (1769), a nautical word, of unknown
origin. Slewed (1801) is old nautical slang for "drunk." Slew-foot
"clumsy person who walks with feet turned out" is from 1896.
n.2
"large
number," 1839, from Irish sluagh "a host, crowd, multitude,"
from Celtic and Balto-Slavic *sloug- "help, service" (see slogan ).
slay
v.
Old English slean
"to smite, strike, beat," also "to kill with a weapon,
slaughter" (class VI strong verb; past tense sloh, slog, past participle
slagen), from Proto-Germanic *slahan, from root *slog- "to hit" (cf.
Old Norse and Old Frisian sla, Danish slaa, Middle Dutch slaen, Dutch slaan,
Old High German slahan, German schlagen, Gothic slahan "to strike").
The Germanic words are from PIE root *slak- "to strike" (cf. Middle
Irish past participle slactha "struck," slacc "sword").
Modern German
cognate schlagen maintains the original sense of "to strike." Meaning
"overwhelm with delight" (mid-14c.) preserves one of the wide range
of meanings the word once had, including, in Old English, "stamp (coins);
forge (weapons); throw, cast; pitch (a tent), to sting (of a snake); to dash,
rush, come quickly; play (the harp); gain by conquest."
slay
n.
"instrument on
a weaver's loom to beat up the weft," Old English slæ, slea, slahae, from
root meaning "strike" (see slay (v.)), so called from
"striking" the web together. Hence the surname Slaymaker "maker
of slays."
Online Etymology
Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang definitions & phrases for slew
slew
noun
A large quantity;
oodles, slathers: a slew of cops
[1839+; probably fr
Irish sluagh, ''host, multitude'']
slay
verb
To impress someone
powerfully, esp to provoke violent and often derisive laughter: Pardon me, this
will slay you/ The boys who slay me are the ones who have set pieces to recite
when they answer the phone (1593+)
The Dictionary of
American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L.
Chapman, Ph.D.
Copyright (C) 2007
by HarperCollins Publishers.
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