slab

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large, flat, thick piece of solid material such as stone, concrete, or wood.

   The patio was made from heavy stone slabs laid in a neat grid.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat concrete base poured as the foundation for a building.

   Next week the builders will pour the slab that the garage will sit on.

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

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