slake

Etymology 1

From Middle English slaken (“to render slack, to slake”), from Old English sleacian, from Old English slæc (“slack”). Unrelated to, but possibly influenced by, the Old Norse sløkkva (“to extinguish”), compare Swedish släcka in the phrase släcka sin törst (“quench one's thirst”), släcka elden (“put out the fire”), and släckt kalk (“slaked lime”).

verb

1. (transitive) To satisfy (thirst, or other desires).
   Tyrian garbs, / Neptunian Albion's high teſtaceous food [i.e., oysters], / And flavour'd Chian wines with incenſe fum'd / To ſlake Patrician thirſt: for theſe, their rights / In the vile ſtreets they proſtitute to ſale; / Their ancient rights, their dignities, their laws, / Their native glorious freedom. 1740, John Dyer, “The Ruins of Rome. A Poem.”, in Poems. … Viz. I. Grongar Hill. II. The Ruins of Rome. III. The Fleece, in Four Books, London: Printed by John Hughs, for Messrs. R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley,[…], published 1759, →OCLC, pages 42–43
   The booths of the publicans gazed shamelessly at the sun, with two empty porter barrels as supports at their doors, ready to smile at their clients with their seductive roundness, ready to lure the thirsty islanders into the gloomy recesses beneath the canvas, where Mulligan's assistant or Mrs Moroney's assistant would hand out frothy pints of porter and glistening tumblers of whisky to slake the thirst and set the blood tingling. 1923, Liam O'Flaherty, “Saturday”, in Thy Neighbour's Wife, 1st paperback edition, Wolfhound Press, page 214
   In that study, some of the subjects had dreams in which they were slaking their thirst, very much like the dreams of convenience Freud described. 1991, David Koulack, To catch a dream: explorations of dreaming, page 98
   Europeans’ labour requirements in the New World were also slaked by slaves from Africa. 2017, Jason Hickel, The Divide[…], London: William Heinemann
   After watching people downing drink on the train, I am in need of slaking my own thirst, so I pop into the station's Centurion Bar. November 30 2022, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 75
2. (transitive) To cool (something) with water or another liquid.
   Notes for landscape tones. Long sequences of tempera. Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick-dust - sweet smelling brick dust and the odour of hot pavements slaked with water. 1961, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, page 14
3. (intransitive) To become mixed with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
   The lime slakes.
4. (transitive) To mix with water, so that a true chemical combination takes place.
   to slake lime
5. (intransitive, obsolete) Of a person: to become less energetic, to slacken in one's efforts.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To slacken; to become relaxed or loose.
   When the body's strongest sinews slake. 1595, John Davies, Orchestra
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To become less intense; to weaken, decrease in force.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To go out; to become extinct.
   His flame did slake. 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals

Etymology 2

Probably connected with Icelandic sleikja, "to lick", and German schlecken (“to lick”).

verb

1. (transitive, Scotland) To besmear.

noun

1. (Scotland) A sloppy mess.