slash

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   cut drastically

   Prices were slashed

2. 2
   verb

   cut open, often in an imprecise manner

   The tires were slashed.

3. 3
   noun

   A slashing action or motion:

   A slash of his blade just missed my ear.

4. 4
   noun

   A mark made by slashing:

   He was bleeding from a slash across his cheek.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   Slash fiction; fan fiction focused on homoerotic pairing of fictional characters.

   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).

7. 7
   verb

   To cut or attempt to cut

   They slashed at him with their swords, but only managed to nick one of his fingers.

8. 8
   verb

   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.

Etymology

Late Middle English, originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Perhaps of imitative origin, or possibly from Old French esclachier (“to break in pieces”), a variant of esclater, which is likely a Germanic borrowing, from Frankish *slaitan (“to slit, tear”). 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.