slang

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Language outside of conventional usage and in the informal register.

   She was amused by his talk, which was simple, straightforward, rather humorous and keen, and interspersed with homely expressions of a style which is sometimes called slang.

2. 2
   noun

   The specialized language of a social group, sometimes used to conceal one's meaning from outsiders; cant.

   "Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is getting to be shopkeepers' slang. / "Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity. / "Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class." / "There is correct English: that is not slang." / "I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."

3. 3
   noun

   A particular variety of slang; the slang used by a particular group.

   [F]or a detailed analysis see Liberman (2008 157ff) who sees it as one of a number of terms found in pan-European slangs meaning concealment and/or cheating.

4. 4
   noun

   An item of slang; a slang word or expression.

   Anyway, I have learned many slangs while I am in New York, and one of them, a remarkable slang, is sheister.

5. 5
   noun

   A curse word.

   Such attempts were made even more aggressive by the fact that these local women were known for picking fights easily and using slangs to verbally abuse their neighbours.

6. 6
   verb

   To vocally abuse, or shout at.

   Also, he had to keep his temper when he was slanged in the theatre porch by a policeman.

7. 7
   verb

   simple past of sling

   Before he slang the all-deciding stone[…]

8. 8
   noun

   Any long, narrow piece of land; a promontory.

   There runneth forth into the sea a certaine shelfe or slang, like unto an out~thrust tongue.

Etymology

First use appears c. 1756, meaning "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves", origin unknown. Not believed to be connected with language or lingo. Possibly derived from a North Germanic source, then possibly related to Nordic language: Danish slænge, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk slengja, Norwegian slenge, Swedish slänga (“to (carelessly) sling, throw, hurl; throw away, to dispose of; to flail”), with derivational nouns such as slæng, sleng, släng etc. Compare the compound: Danish slængenavn, Norwegian slengenavn, Norwegian Nynorsk slengenamn, Swedish slängnamn (“nickname, byname, informal n…