slash

Etymology 1

Originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Possibly from French esclachier (“to break”). 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.

noun

1. A slashing action or motion
   1. A swift, broad, cutting stroke made by an edged weapon or whip.
      A slash of his blade just missed my ear.
   2. (cricket) A wild swinging strike of the bat.
   3. (ice hockey, lacrosse) A hard swift lateral strike with a hockey or lacrosse stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.
   4. Any similar wide striking motion.
      He took a wild slash at the ball but the captain saved the team's skin by hacking it clear and setting up the team for a strike on the goal.
   5. (figurative) A sharp reduction.
      After the war ended, the army saw a 50% slash in their operating budget.
2. A mark made by a slashing motion
   1. A cut or laceration, often deep, made by an edged weapon or whip.
      He was bleeding from a slash across his cheek.
   2. (botany) A deep taper-pointed incision in a plant.
3. Something resembling such a mark
   1. (fashion) A slit in an outer garment exposing a lining or inner garment, usually of a contrasting color or design; any intentional long vertical cut in a garment.
   2. (US and Canada) A clearing in a forest, (particularly) those made by logging, fire, or other violent action.
      We passed over the shoulder of a ridge and around the edge of a fire slash, and then we had the mountain fairly before us. 1895, Henry Van Dyke, Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness
   3. (originally US, typography) The slash mark: the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩, sometimes (often proscribed) inclusive of any mark produced by a similar slashing movement of the pen, as the backslash ⟨\⟩.
      Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like slant, slant line, slash, and slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as diagonal and diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation oblique. 1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240
   4. (vulgar, slang) Female genitalia.
4. (US and Canada) The loose woody debris remaining from a slash, (particularly forestry) the trimmings left while preparing felled trees for removal.
   Slash generated during logging may constitute a fire hazard.
5. (fandom slang) Slash fiction.
   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). 2013, Katherine Arcement, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 5

verb

1. To cut or attempt to cut
   1. To cut with a swift broad stroke of an edged weapon.
      They slashed at him with their swords, but only managed to nick one of his fingers.
      She hacked and slashed her way across the jungle.
   2. To produce a similar wound with a savage strike of a whip.
   3. (ice hockey) To strike swiftly and laterally with a hockey stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.
   4. (figurative) To reduce sharply.
      Competition forced them to slash prices.
      Profits are only up right now because they slashed overhead, but employee morale and product quality have collapsed too.
   5. (fashion) To create slashes in a garment.
   6. (figurative) To criticize cuttingly.
2. To strike violently and randomly
   1. (cricket) To swing wildly at the ball.
3. To move quickly and violently.
4. To crack a whip with a slashing motion.
5. (US, Canada) 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.
6. (intransitive, fandom slang) To write slash fiction.

adv

1. Used to note the sound or action of a slash.

conj

1. (Canada, US) Used to connect two or more identities in a list.
   Saul Hudson is a famous musician/songwriter.
   What this, the Slashie, means is that you consider me the best actor slash model and not the other way around. 2001, Drake Sather, Ben Stiller, John Hamburg, Zoolander, spoken by Fabio Lanzoni
   “It’s been a joke-slash-tragedy,” the restaurant host, 29, said of the president’s tumultuous far-right administration as she cast her vote against him in her country’s most important election in decades. 2022-10-02, Tom Phillips, “‘A day of hope’: Lula fans eager to see Bolsonaro defeated”, in The Guardian
2. (Canada, US) Used to list alternatives.
   Alternatives can be marked by the slash/stroke/solidus punctuation mark, a tall, right-slanting oblique line. Read: Alternatives can be marked by the slash-slash-stroke-slash-solidus punctuation mark, a tall, right-slanting oblique line.

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Compare Scots slash (“large splash”), possibly from Old French esclache. Slang use for urination attested from the 1950s.

noun

1. (obsolete, rare) A drink of something; a draft.
2. (vulgar, UK, slang) A piss: an act of urination.
   Where's the gents? I need to take a slash.
3. (vulgar, UK, slang, rare) Urine.
   That bus shelter smells of slash.

verb

1. (UK, slang, intransitive) To piss, to urinate.
   If you can slash in my bed (I thought) don't tell me you can't suck my cock. 1973, Martin Amis, The Rachel Papers,, page 189

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Compare flash (“a marsh; a pool of water”) and British dialectal slashy (“wet and dirty, miry”).

noun

1. (US) A swampy area; a swamp.
2. (Scotland) A large quantity of watery food such as broth.

verb

1. (Scotland, intransitive) To work in wet conditions.

Etymology 4

See slatch

noun

1. (UK) Alternative form of slatch: a deep trough of finely-fractured culm or a circular or elliptical pocket of coal.